Reading Between The Lines
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Jace was a powerful crime lord with incredible telekenetic powers. Clary was his one weakness, a telepathic art teacher. Clace. Mutant AU.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys! So I'm back with a new story! I am going on a bit of a hiatus after I post this, but I'll be back with a regular updating schedule next year!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story. There's also a lot of liberties taken with the university in this one._

Clarissa Fray walked slowly around the room, humming under her breath to the music that was playing from the speakers in the corners of the room. The smell of paint and turpentine filled the room, the familiar scent surrounding her comfortingly. Her class was filled with humans and mutants alike, and her mind reached out and fluttered delicately over her students thoughts as she walked around. She passed by Darla Stewart, who was human, and had an incredible talent when it came to oil painting. The girl had problems with concentrating when it came to her book work, but when she was put in front of a canvas, paints and brushes at her elbow, she could do incredible things. Next was Kenneth Turner, a mutant, with the ability to shift into a tiger, either completely, or just parts of him, and was known to use his tail to push people out of the way when his hands were full. Jason Bloom and Stacey Rogers, both human, were flirting, and Clary winced at the thoughts they were projecting a little too loudly—apparently the flirting had actually gotten somewhere the weekend before and that was not an image that she wanted of two of her students.

She had good control over her powers, she had manifested when she was just a few years old, and while both of her parents were human, they fully supported her incredible power and made sure that she had the best teachers. For quite a few years, she was unable to stop herself from feeling everything that everyone around the people. It was unbearable, feeling the pain felt by adults that passed her by on the street when she was just seven years old, the weight on a mans shoulders after he had lost his job and didn't know how he was going to support his wife and three children. Or an older woman, who had been married for nearly sixty years, and then lost her husband after a long, horrific battle with cancer.

But she had learnt how to filter things out, to block peoples thoughts and emotions and feelings. Clary was one of the more powerful mutants around, and telepathy was a rare power to hold, but while the small percentage of the population like herself used their power to advance their careers and wealth, she loved the life that she lived. It was modest, and filled with limited people who loved her, her art, and of course, her students.

"Clary?" It was Darla, wrinkling her nose as she looked at her art work. "I feel like there's something missing, I just can't figure out what it is." Clary walked over to her, tipping her head to the side as she looked at Darla's painting. Usually she just drifted over her students minds, not dipping in any further, not wanting to invade their privacy. But she let herself settle over Darla for a moment, finding where it was the girl wanted to get with her painting from where she was now.

"You need a darker shade of colour," Clary said as she pointed to the upper right corner of the canvas. "Over here, maybe a darker green, or even a blue." She waited behind her student as the dark haired girl mixed a new colour on her palatte and then dabbed them onto her canvas. They were quiet for a few minutes as Darla painted, and Clary felt the frustration ebb out of the girl as the tone of the painting shifted to what she wanted. "That's good," Clary gave her a smile and a slight nudge with her shoulder.

"Thanks, Clary," Darla gave her a smile. A lot of the teachers and professors at the University preferred to be called by their titles, or 'Mr' or 'Ms'. Clary didn't care. She had a degree in Art, Art History and Visual Studies and she was technically a Professor, but she was only twenty-nine and she looked younger than a lot of her students, given her bright eyes, clear skin and petite figure. She got on well with her students and she had not problem with them calling her by her first name. She began walking back to her desk, looking up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost time for the bell to ring, signifying not only the end of the class, but the end of the day.

"Okay, everyone," Clary clapped her hands together, and reached out to tap her finger against her iPod, pausing the music that was playing. "If you guys could finish off and get your brushes soaking! Leave your art where it is, you'll be the first class in here on Monday." She was in her lecture hall for one of her art history classes on Monday morning, and then she would be in her office grading papers and trying to sort out some details for an upcoming exhibition until she had this class again on Monday afternoon. "Just remember, if you want to work on your art in the weekend or after hours, you need to let me know. I'm happy to make the room available for you, but I need advance warning."

"Why, so we don't walk in on you with your boyfriend again?" The tease came from a mutant, Geoffrey Arnold, who had pixie like ears and fur covering the edges of his face. The tease was meant in good spirit, and the rest of the class laughed as well, obviously remembering a few weeks ago when they had walked in on her with 'her boyfriend' as they put it, making out against her desk.

"Or you ungrateful brats can take your work with you and stink out your own homes, see if I care," Clary screwed up her nose at her students, and they all just laughed harder. They were third year students, and she had taught some of them for all three years now, and they were a good bunch. The bell rang as the last of the students were cleaning out their brushes and she picked up her phone from where it was resting on her desks. "I'll see you lot on Monday! Have a good weekend!" They all shouted out their farewells to her as they filed out of their classroom, and Clary checked her phone.

 _I want to see you._

She rolled her eyes at the message, but there was a smile playing with the edge of her mouth as she looked at the next message.

 _I'm picking you up from class, I know you finish at four today._

The smile dropped off Clary's face at that. He knew that she didn't like him coming by the University, she worked hard to keep her private life exactly that. Private. The other week when he had been there had been a one off, and it was early in the morning, he was meant to be gone before anyone had the chance of seeing him.

 _I'm in the parking lot._

Now her eyebrows pulled together in a frown, and she reached underneath her desk to pull out her handbag, and then into the right hand side drawer of her desk to find her keys. Clary put her iPod in her bag as she twisted her way through the trays and easels that were set up in the room toward the side door. The main door lead out to the hallway which continued to a couple of other art studios, and then on to the courtyard. However the side door went directly down the concrete steps and toward the staff's parking lot. She heard her phone vibrate again, but she ignored it. He wasn't too far away, and Clary let her mind reach out, easily finding his familiar mind and curling around his thoughts.

She caught an image of him looking up in her direction, and she could figure out where he was standing from that alone. He couldn't see her yet because of the trees and the wood and concrete fence that seperated the campus from the car park. But as she walked down the steps, she started catching snippets of some peoples thoughts. Most of the time Clary ignored them, but it wasn't as though she kept up a permanent mental block, so if people were thinking loud enough, she would hear.

There were the usual, several students worried about exams that they had coming up, trying to figure out where they were going to fit in last minute studying so that they could go out this weekend. And most of them were just excited for the weekend, making plans to go out, pretty much all of them thinking about getting drunk or stoned. As Clary walked down the steps, her phone vibrated again, but she didn't bother checking it, because she was almost at the car park, so he would see her soon.

He was thinking about her, and she felt the spike in his mood, the right side of his mood lighting up when he finally caught a glimpse of her. Clary felt an ever so slight tightening of the delicate metal ring on her thumb, indication that he had seen her.

There were a couple of girls gathered at the bottom of the steps, and they were shooting looks over at the black stretch limo that Clary would never dream about being seen in.

And yet here it was.

Waiting for her.

He looked incredibly handsome, as usual, in a tailored suit that probably cost more than her annual salary, his dark maroon shirt with the first couple of buttons undone around his neck and no longer wearing a tie. He had expensive leather shoes, two rings in one of his lower earlobe and shaggy hair hanging to the collar of his suit. Not only was he giving off a confident—almost arrogant air—but also a dangerous one, the gun on his hip showing despite being cleverly hidden.

" _Lisichka_ ," he greeted her in Russian, his lips quirking into a devilish smirk, and Clary felt his appreciation as he looked her up and down. "Did you get my messages?"

"I did," Clary dipped her chin forward. "But I have my car, I have my own way home." She made a move, as though to carry on past him toward where her was parked, but he stepped forward, blocking her path and leaning forward so that his nose brushed against her temple. She felt another pulse in his brain waves, as he breathed in, inhaling her scent, and he touched her hip lightly.

"Come for a ride with me," he told her, not leaving any room for argument in his tone. Even though Clary had the power to freeze him in his tracks, twist his mind upside down if she really didn't want to go, there was no way she was going to say 'no' to him.

And so Clary got in the back seat of the limo with Jace Herondale.

 _Alright! So, my recommendations this time...Songwise, the ones I've had on repeat are;_ Somebody New _, by Cedric Gervais. Fucking loooove it, my husband hates it, but I play it loud as hell when I'm the only one in the car. Haha._ First Time _by Kygo and Ellie Goulding, this one is cute and sweet, makes me think back to being a teenager. Then there's_ Easy _by Sky Ferreira, which is just beautiful, from the movie_ Baby Driver _, and the last one is_ Too Much To Ask _by Niall Horan, which is just so pretty._

 _Movie wise, I've recently seen_ Kingsmen 2 _, which was fucking great, although my favourite character...*quietly sobs in corner*. Also_ It _, which was great as well, the kids were all so fucking brilliant in that movie, and I have to admit, I ship Reddie. I think they're absolutely adorable. Bill Skarsgard did an amazing job. And then tomorrow, I'll be seeing_ Thor: Ragnorok _! It looks amazing, so fingers crossed._

 _And then in the TV show area, I've just started watching_ The Gifted _, which is pretty good so far. Also binged the second season of_ Shooter _, which I've really enjoyed, and I hope that there's more! Another one is_ Wynonna Earp, _which took me a while to get into, but I love it now. Wynonna and Waverly are just fucking amazing. And then there's just the general shows that I've been keeping up with, like_ How To Get Away With Murder, Gotham _and_ NCIS: Los Angeles _, all of which are great._

 _So! Let me know what you guys think of the chapter, let me know if you guys have any prompts or songs you want me to write about (any of the fandoms I'm in, check my profile, and keep in mind I will try to write them, but can't guarantee all of them) and absolutely recommend any songs, movies, tv shows or fics to me!_

 _There's a preview of the next chapter for a review... xxx_


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm back! We're 2018! It does_ not _feel like it at all. Haha. It still feels like 2017. Anyway, I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years, fun but safe (even though that make me sounds like a mum). Mine started well and then I had a bit of an accident which is taking a while to recover from, but we'll get there. And I hope that the first month of 2018 has been great! I've got a few concerts coming up which I'm psyched about—Ed Sheeran, Pink and Halsey, so that's awesome._

 _Now, my official updating schedule is kicking off from February, this update is just to get all my stories updated and get my oneshots posted. Check out my profile for the schedule. There are a variety of oneshots posted in quite a few categories, so make sure you check them out, along with my profile for the updating schedule going forward!_

"Good afternoon, _florecita_ ," Raphael Santiago greeted Clary, flashing a toothy smile over his shoulder from where he was in the front cab of the limousine. She caught a glimpse into what he was thinking, and of course, he was thinking things about her mouth and even something about her neck this time. She raised one eyebrow at him and he just smirked back, knowing that she could read his mind. Raphael was a ridiculous flirt, and there was absolutely no doubt that he was physically attracted to her, but he was also no danger, and his loyalty to Jace—then Clary by extension—was to the bone.

"I missed you," Jace began as he Clary sat on the opposite row of seats, so that their knees were about a meter apart.

"Is that why you're kidnapping me?" Clary asked wryly as the car pulled away from the curb and she saw through the tinted windows that they were leaving the University parking lot. Jace smirked at her as he slung one arm along the back of leather seat.

"I couldn't kidnap you if I tried, _liebling_ ," Jace responded easily. Clary smiled at the nickname, something he had picked up in one of his many overseas trips, and she felt the ring around her thumb tighten slightly.

Jace was powerful, he was one of the most powerful mutants that she had ever met. He had both magnetokinesis and ferrokinesis, giving him the incredible ability to control and manipulate metal and magnetic field and even draw out the metal buried deep in the earth. The ring around her thumb was the only jewelry that she had accepted from him, and that was because although it was expensive like all the other pieces he had tried to gift her, this one meant something personal to _him_. It was a rare and exotic piece of metal that he could easily find and sense, even when they weren't together. As long as they were in the same city, Jace could seek her out, and he told her that it made him calm, knowing that something he could feel was warmed by her body heat, even when he wasn't there with her.

Admittedly, that did all sorts of things to her heart, and made her think all kinds of sappy thoughts about him.

"Where are we off to?" Clary asked, looking out the window and seeing that they were making their way through the afternoon traffic of Los Angeles, filled with people anxious to get started on their weekends.

"Thought that we could go out to dinner," Jace told her.

"Uh," Clary looked down at what she was wearing. "I'm not exactly dressed for the kinds of places that you like to go for dinner." Jace's sort of dinners out were not like when she was with her friends, with greasy pizza's or cheap burgers or hot dogs on a stick. Sure, when they were ordering in, Jace was all for that kind of food. But Jace's dinners out were at restaurants were the food was so expensive that it didn't even have the prices on the menu.

"You look perfect," Jace responded, his eyes making their way over her body, not bothering to reconnect his eyes with hers as he continued. "However I was thinking somewhere a little more private."

His yacht.

He meant his private yacht, that he won in a high stakes poker game a couple of nights before he had gone on holiday. Jace had been boasting about it when he spoke with her, but because he had needed to leave on business shortly after it had come into his possession, Clary hadn't actually seen it yet.

"As long as there's food, I'm good," Clary responded evenly, because private yachts were now, apparently, part of her everyday life. "I'm starving."

"Mm," Jace hummed in agreement, his eyes still skimming over her legs, which were tanned and tucked in close to her body, a couple of beaded anklets around one ankle. "Although I feel like a detour perhaps is a good idea."

Clary felt a stab of heat between her legs when she saw his pupils dilate as they looked her over. She could sense the arousal that was coming off him without needing to dip into his mind, and when he reached across to touch the panel beside his elbow, the partition between them and the Raphael sliding upward and giving them their privacy, she knew what was going to happen. She didn't know exactly where they were driving to, but they were sliding along smoothly and Clary felt herself pulse at the idea of Jace inside her in the moving vehicle.

He'd been away for nearly three weeks, which was a long time when she was used to seeing him at least twice a week, usually more.

"Take that off," Jace told her, his eyes intent as they skimmed over the loose dress she was wearing. Given she was an art teacher, she had a pretty loose dress code that was expected, especially when she was in her studio. Friday's she didn't have any classes in her actual lecture room, everything was in her studio, and she dressed very casually. Today, it was a loose blue dress that barely reached halfway down her thighs. She took it off, tossing it onto the ground and seeing the way his pupil almost completely took over the iris of his eye, leaving only a sliver of gold as his breathing quickened. "Come on, sweetheart," Jace's voice was husky. "You know I want the rest of that off as well."

Clary sucked her lip into her mouth, teeth nibbling as she leaned forward from the leather of the limo seats and reached behind herself, undoing the clasp of her bra and letting it join her dress on the ground. She leaned back into the seat, her hands resting on her hips at the waist band of the dark green panties that she was wearing. Jace flicked his fingers and his belt whipped out of the belt loops from his pants, the metal buckle clinking against the ground. He crooked a finger at her and Clary got off the seat opposite him and came over, sliding her knees on either side of his hips and bringing their lips together for the first time it weeks.

It always felt like magic when their mouths connected, sparks spreading through their bodies and Jace's tongue pushed between her lips to curl around her own tongue. Clary squeaked as his fingers pressed into her lower back, and then she came back into herself, making quick work of his button and zipper. There was no time for foreplay, they both just wanted Jace to be buried inside her tight heat, and their kisses became quickly sloppy as she pulled out his cock and pumped him a few times. There was a slight delay to fumble with a condom that was in the side compartment of the door, and then he was sinking inside her.

Clary let her mind slip, just like she always did when she was having sex with Jace. It wasn't something that all of her lovers liked, some found it intrusive, and while she tried to understand where they were coming from, she found it hard, because it was just part of who she was. But Jace loved it about her, especially since he sometimes found it hard to say what he was thinking. During sex, he loved it when she glided into his mind, projecting exactly what she was feeling, letting him experience just how good he was making her feel.

There were all kinds of thoughts, all of them broken in the heat and passion of the moment, but the general idea was clear, and it made her clench her vaginal walls around his cock.

 _Gorgeousperfectsweet_ mine _._

"Oh, _lisichka_ ," he murmured against her skin as he sucked at a spot behind her ear, his tongue flicking out to lick at a drop of sweat. Clary groaned and curled her fingernails into the thick muscle of his shoulders, feeling her thighs burn as she forced herself to move up and down faster.

Mine _hotbeautiful_ mine _sweet._

That possessive streak was coming through, and it just made Clary feel hotter. The way he was sucking on the skin behind her ear just reinforced the possessive side of him, and she knew that there was going to be a purpling mark left which she could hopefully hide by leaving her hair down over the next few days. His nose skimmed down the side of her neck, and he kissed at the column of her throat before wrapping her hair around his fist and forcing her face down, so that their lips came together. Clary made muffled noises as he tugged at her hair, his other hand on her ass, his fingers slipping between her crack and massaging the sensitive skin.

"Jace," she whimpered as she managed to put the tiniest amount of space between them. "Jace...Please," she grinded her hips down on him, the two ends of his leather belt pressing into the tender flesh of her inner thigh, and her clit catching over and over again on the hem of his silk shirt.

"You ready to come, darling?" He whispered as he moved to continue his previous attack on her neck, licking, sucking, biting until she came apart finally, the gush of wetness between her legs soaking through his expensive shirt. Jace didn't care, letting out a groan of satisfaction at getting her off, and then both his hands were on her hips, lifting her up and down as though she weighed nothing.

"Shit, shit, shit," Clary was almost squeaking every time he pulled her back down again, filling her up to the hilt, sending sparks and electric currents spiraling down her spine and toward her toes.

"Come again for me," Jace urged her, his teeth catching on her earlobe, bringing her down harder on his throbbing cock, which just seemed to grow inside her. Every sensitive part inside of her was being touched, was being stimulated, and she was so wet that her lower lips were parted and sliding slickly over the exposed skin of his lower stomach. "Come for me again, _lisichka_ ," he was urging her, his breath hot against her air, his voice rough and desperate. "Come on." And she did, her whole body tensing, and her back arching, and she bit down into his shoulder so hard that she knew that there were going to be little purple crescents left behind when she finally let go. Her toes curled to the point of almost pain, and the corners of her mind felt white and fuzzy.

Clary shared the pleasure she was feeling, curling around his mind and his own pleasure which was barely contained. With her added pleasure, Jace had no way to hold back, and his throaty roar as he let his orgasm take over. He collapsed to the side, Clary's naked sweaty body held tightly against his clothed one, and they breathed with each other, content expressions on their face.

 _Okay! Let me know what you guys thought! Let me know if you liked it, if you didn't, what your favourite part was, etc etc._

 _Alright, now I've got so many song and movie recommendations given the gap in updating, so I'll limit it down. Movie wise,_ The Last Jedi _and_ The Greatest Showman _are both absolutely incredibly. Especially_ TGS _. Holy shit, the songs and the costumes and the dances, they were all amazing. I don't even know what my favourite songs from it is..._ This Is Me, Rewrite The Stars, Never Enough, From Now On _...I just don't know! And TV series recommendations would be_ The Gifted, Black Lightning _and_ The Runaways.

 _Songwise,_ I'm Gonna Show You Crazy _by Bebe Rexha,_ Him and I _by Halsey and G-Eazy,_ Missing You _by Blake McGrath,_ Never Enough _from The Greatest Showman,_ My My My _by Troye Sivan,_ Dynasty _by MIIA and_ Phases _by French Montana._

 _Let me know what your own recommendations are! I note down all your song, TV series and movies suggestions so I can get around to them when I have time!_

 _Make sure you check out my other updates and let me know if you want a preview of the next chapter xx_


	3. Chapter 3

_Next chapter! A lot of you guys keep saying you're not sure where this story is going, and I guess that's kind of a good thing? Haha. Don't worry, it gets revealed soon enough!_

When Clary walked into her lecture room for her first class on Monday morning, there was an elaborate and obviously expensive bouquet of flowers on her desk. There were a couple of wolf whistles and wiggles of eyebrows from a scattering of students, and wide smiles from the rest. She rolled her eyes automatically as she looked at the bouquet, gorgeous and colourful, a mixture of roses and Peruvian lilies, in bright pinks, purples, oranges and yellow, shaking her head a little. Her cheeks pinked as she slid the glass vase to one side so that she could put her folders down on the desk.

"You still haven't told us if he's hot, Miss!" One of her students called from the left, and Clary resisted the urge to pull the fingers playfully, like she would have if it was one of her friends, but she restrained herself, since they were her students and she was meant to be setting a good example. She knew that they were teasing, she got on well with all her students, and she could feel the joyful buzz from all of them, lightly pulsing in her mind.

"Of course he's hot," Ruby Singh, a dark skinned, dark haired mutant with the ability of super speed, stated knowingly. "You can tell that just from the things that he gets her."

"That seem's a little shallow," another student responded, Marcus Dawes, a human, said with a shrug. "He could be some old guy—her sugar daddy—for all we know." He didn't actually think that, Clary knew that Marcus was just trying to get a rise out of Ruby given how often he flirted with the girl, and she quickly clapped her hands together to draw their attention.

"Okay, well, it might surprise you all, but we're actually here to learn, _not_ discuss my love life!" There was a groan from her students and Clary grinned as she nodded over to where her TA, Tessa Gray, was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and watching the proceedings with a grin.

 _Don't you start_ , Clary sent out to her TA telepathically, the girl used to Clary's voice inside her head after the years they had worked together.

 _H_ ey, _I'm just as curious as the rest of them_ , Tessa responded, her words just a little too loud in Clary's head, given it wasn't too often that they communicated that way, and Tessa wasn't one hundred percent skilled at it yet. Clary purposefully just gave her an innocent smile and handed over the worksheets that they were going to need for todays lesson. As she turned back to her whiteboard, picking up a marker and uncapping it, she couldn't help but glance over at the bouquet of flowers once more.

Jace had learnt a long time ago, when he was first trying to woo her, that the usual things he would gift to his lovers weren't going to work. She sent back the silver necklace, along with the ruby necklace, and the diamond one. He had obviously decided that necklaces just weren't her thing, and tried gold rings, emerald bracelets and even an expensive anklet. Clary was pretty sure it was his right hand man, Alexander Lightwood, that had eventually suggest he try to go for something not so flashy, because a few weeks after she had stubbornly returned the last piece of jewellery, a bouquet of purple calla lillies had been delivered to her home. It had still taken a couple more months before she had finally relented and let him take her out on a date, but the flowers were the first gift that she hadn't sent back, and he made a point to send her a bouquet at least once a week, sometimes more if he was feeling particularly friendly. She only accepted the ring from him after they started seeing each other, and that was only because of how important it was to _him_.

The agreement that the pair of them had was a little strange, especially given the morals that Clary had which differed from Jace's almost astronomically. Over the time that she had worked for, she had to admit, that things weren't quite as black and white as she had always been brought up to believe, but sometimes she still felt squeamish or nervous when she heard of things that he did, or business deals he was carrying out.

Jace himself wasn't exactly a _bad guy_.

He just most definitely wasn't a _good guy_.

After working with Jace for the past year and a half, Clary had learnt quite a few things that weren't public knowledge about Jace. Jace had gone into a sort of private security business, which she was pretty sure had been because his mother had been killed right in front of him by a man who wanted the diamond necklace she was wearing. Jace had been thirteen, and he had been scared, and he hadn't known what to do when faced with the robber and his gun. Afterwards, he had held his mothers hand while she bled out as they waited for the police to come. His father blamed him, saying that he wasn't a man, saying that he should have stepped between his mother and the robber. He said with Jace's powers, flinging a gun far away from the robbers hand would have been the easiest thing in the world. Stephen Herondale had died only a couple of months later, drinking himself into a stupor almost every night until one day he fell from the balcony on the third floor of their upstate New York house.

It had officially been ruled a suicide, but there was plenty of doubt in peoples mind, many believing that Jace had something to do with the death.

Jace had hardened his heart and sworn that no one else would die because he was too weak.

For some people, that might have prompted them to go into the police force, or law enforcement, but Jace wasn't stupid enough to think that that was the kind of life he would want. His father was a District Attorney, and he had been a nasty man for as long as Jace could remember, abusive toward both him and his mother when she had been alive. That alone had been enough to build in a deep sense of distrust in the authorities. Following the rules laid out by other people, being told who it was that he had to protect, whether they were good or the scum of the earth. He didn't want to become wrapped up in sentimentality, so he focused on the two things that his father had always taught him about; money and using his powers.

So he moved from New York to Los Angeles and opened his own company, where after several years, he and his men became one of the most trusted associates for many corrupt lawyers and police officers, drug dealers, gang members and other crooked businessmen. He didn't care if they were human or mutant, he wasn't like some people, and that was another one of the things that worked in his favor. It wasn't just security that he provided, it was well known that his company had carried out assassinations as well, although they weren't just guns for hire. The ones who were killed were never good people, always mixed up in dirty business.

Jace had first searched Clary out when he had discovered someone in his inner circle was selling secrets. It wasn't his personal operation that was being leaked, but details from some of their clients being given to their competitors. Clary didn't advertise her qualities, and it wasn't as though with his connections he couldn't find another telepath, a corrupt one. Admittedly, there weren't too many in New York, but they still weren't hard to find if you knew where to look. But Clary's extent of control and just how powerful she was—that wasn't common. Some telepaths could read peoples minds, but they couldn't search for specific information. Some telepaths could pick up on fleeting thoughts, but not actually grasp full sentences. Some could even stop people in their path, but they couldn't control their movements and plant ideas in their mind from hundreds of miles away.

Clary could.

Sometimes it scared _her_ just how powerful she was, and she had been living with this mutation, these powers, her whole life. She wasn't too sure how she would have dealt with it, all the noises, all the voices, all the emotions, if she hadn't had her parents get her the help she needed when her mutation had first become present.

She didn't show off about her powers, and she got through life just like everyone else, with hard work and determination. Of course, reading minds was something she did on a daily basis, but most things were just surface thoughts, because she couldn't help that all the time. She didn't show off, and even though quite a few people knew that she was a telepath, they didn't know quite how powerful she really was.

Jace had.

Jace had sought her out and asked for her help. Clary had been uncertain, especially when he seemed to know so much about her and she had never met him before in her life. He had held out his hand to her, giving her the physical contact that some telepaths needed to read minds even though he had known that she didn't need it. But she had seen it for what it was—an invitation, a show of trust. She had taken his hand, and delved into his mind, searching out his intentions with her. He wanted her help, he wanted to use her mutation, but he didn't want to abuse it, he wanted to work _with_ her.

She had to admit, she caught flashes of other things that he did in his line of work—guns, bloody bodies, angry swearing, stacks of cash—and that had scared her. Clary had told Jace that she needed to think about it, and even though he had been disappointed, he had nodded, given her his number and told her to call him when she made her decision. He hadn't come back, he hadn't called her, he hadn't pushed her before she was ready, waiting until she had called him and agreed that she would help. It was more out of curiosity than anything else.

And about six months later, they were sleeping together, something like a friends with benefits arrangement.

It was now a year after that, and they were still sleeping together, and it _definitely_ wasn't a casual thing. Jace didn't play well with others, and Clary didn't have to be a telepath to know how possessive he was.

Not that Clary minded though.

 _You planning on rejoining us?_ Tessa's voice was loud between her ears and Clary blinked as she realized that all of the worksheets had been handed out and she was meant to have written up the lesson plan on the board, but she had just been standing there for the past few minutes with the uncapped marker. _Thinking about the mystery man?_

"Right," Clary cleared her throat, pointedly ignoring Tessa's voice. "So Tessa's given you out worksheets with six pages. We're going to start with the second page," there was rustling as her students flicked through the papers and she let her mind refocus on the work at hand.

 _Okay._

 _So, I had my movie/TV show/song recommendations all written up, but then Wednesday happened, and I kind of wanted to say something and it didn't seem right to put them in here along with this._

 _So...I'm going to start this with; I don't understand. I can't comprehend. I have absolutely no idea what the people and the families of those involved in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida are going through. I can't even imagine what...What they're feeling or how they're doing._

 _I just...I don't even know how to put what I personally feel into words, and then I think about how shit and selfish that is, because I'm halfway around the world, and yet there are people who were_ there _, people who were_ in that school _, and they've been incredibly brave by doing interviews or getting out there via social media about what they went through, and what_ needs to happen _. I watched an interview with one boy who put it well, "We are children. You guys are the adults. Work together, get over your politics and get something done."_

Yes _._

 _Where I live, the last time we had a mass shooting—which is defined where four or more people selected indiscriminately, not including the perpetrator, are killed—was in 1997. In my life time, there have only been three. From what I understand, there have been_ eight school shootings this year alone _in the US. I just—I can't even understand that._

 _I don't usually put things up about national/international events, but there were kids my baby brothers age...There were_ fourteen year olds who were killed _. How do we live in a world where someone can do that? I was absolutely bawling my eyes out when I was reading the updates and watching the videos that kids had posted and I just...I don't understand._

 _I just wanted to say I'm sorry._

 _To anyone who is directly or indirectly affected._

 _To anyone who lives in the US and this is a constant fear for you._

 _Because that's really all I can say xx_


	4. Chapter 4

_An update! About a week earlier than I planned, but I'm going away this weekend and then quite busy next week, so I thought I would update now! Also, part of the reason I'm busy next week is because it's my birthday! So here's an early birthday present from me to you xx_

"I want everything on the menu," Maia Roberts moaned pitifully as she looked down at the glossy paper menu and Clary let out a laugh. "Seriously, how have we never come here before? This place looks amazing and it smells even better." Everything coming off Maia was pulsing happy and bright, and even though Clary was careful when keeping her abilities to herself, stopping herself from dipping into other peoples minds as much as she could, Maia's happiness was radiating and it was impossible not to see it.

"This breakfast isn't just about the food, right?" Clary tipped her head to the side. Maia grinned, pinching her lower lip between her teeth and looking sideways across at her fiancee, who was smiling broadly—which was saying a lot. Jordan Kyle was rarely the type of guy who went around smiling. Maia was projecting her happy thoughts so loudly that Clary was having a hard time not to see the images dancing through her friends mind.

"I'm pregnant!" Maia gasped, wiggling around in her seat, her eyes glowing and the curls of her hair bouncing against her cheeks.

"Oh my god!" Clary squealed, launching herself across the table to wrap her arms around her friend.

"Congratulations," Simon Lewis grinned, reaching out his hand across the table toward Jordan, who shook his hand enthusiastically.

"Holy shit—do you know the gender? How far along are you? Oh my god—have you told your parents?" Clary was rattling off questions faster than Maia could answer them, and Simon and Jordan laughed as the two woman began speaking over each other. At one point it looked as though the waiter wanted to come over and take their orders, but when he saw how fast the two were talking—with absolutely no sign of letting up—he quickly did a one-eighty and went to take another tables order instead. It was almost half an hour later before the waiter came back, and by then, Clary and Maia had calmed down enough to give their orders.

Maia and Jordan were both human, like a lot of the other inhabitants of the _Sugar Bowl._ Just from the things that Clary caught in trails of thoughts from several people, she could tell that they were mutants, but only one had a visible ability. A lot of mutants were just like herself, or Simon, with their mutations easily concealed. Simon's mutation was enhanced intelligence, so he was sort of just a complete and utter genius, or as Clary liked to call him, 'nerd'. Everything he put his mind to—and even pretty much everything he didn't—he learnt in an instant, able to understand and decipher astrophysics and nuclear engineering as easy as reading a childs book. It meant he had a lot of difficulty with he was at school, he couldn't relate to other kids his age or why they were taking so long to pick up on things when he was far more advanced. It got better when he ended up at a specialized school, which was where he met Clary, where she was trying to learn how to control her powers.

"We need to come back here a hundred more times," Maia announced as she polished off her pancakes, looking around to make sure no one was watching her as she ran her finger around the outside of her plate, licking the last of the maple syrup off. "I think we both enjoyed that a lot," Maia grinned as she rested a hand over her stomach, which was still completely flat. Clary's eyes lit up and she looked as though she was about to start gushing again when her phone vibrated from where it was laying on the table. She picked it up, as Jordan and Simon starting discussing comic books—something that she generally zoned out of.

 _He needs to see you._

It was Alec. And just like Jace, he was always so vague in his text messages.

Clary rolled her eyes as her thumb hovered over the screen, glancing around at her table of friends before tapping out a response.

 _For my power or my body?_

She was teasing him a little bit, she could admit that to herself, because it was just too funny, playing around with Alec, who was always so uptight and tight lipped. She knew that he had his reasons, after a year of being with Jace, Alec was a staple figure in his organisation, and she had learned things from his boyfriend, Magnus Bane, and his sister, Isabelle Lightwood, and also occasionally from Alec about his childhood, which had been abusive. Alec had borne the brunt of the abuse of their parents, sheltering his younger siblings, and he still carried that with him now.

"Ooh, is this the mystery guy texting you?" Maia nudged Clary in the side with a hopeful smile. Her friends all knew that she was seeing _someone_ , they just had absolutely no idea who it was—even Simon, and Simon was her best friend. Given Jace's profession, and the danger that tended to follow him, she wanted to keep her two lives separate for as long as possible. "Seriously, you guys have been seeing each other for ages now."

"It's not that serious," Clary answered vaguely, although her friends didn't need to be telepaths to know that she was lying.

"Not serious my ass," Simon grumbled under his breath, his eyes narrowed as he looked across the table at the red head. Jace was a serious point of contention between them, given there were practically no secrets between them. Simon had been verbally open with her about how he wanted to meet this guy, and how there must be something wrong with him if she didn't want to discuss him. And he didn't even try to quiet his thoughts when the mystery lover came up as well, Clary picking up on his upset.

"You guys will get to meet him, don't worry," Clary replied. "Eventually."

 _And when is that exactly?_ Simon pushed his thoughts toward Clary, his voice exactly the right volume, unlike when Tessa spoke to her through her head, since they had had years of communicating that like. Clary ignored Simon, pointedly not looking at him, even though he knew that she could clearly hear his question.

"Well, good for you for going out there and meeting someone and being happy," Maia said, reaching over and squeezing Clary's hand. Clary had a difficult time letting people in since when she was with someone so frequently, she become more intune with their thoughts. She couldn't help it, as she began to trust someone and get close to them, the walls that she kept up around her mutation came down a little bit. She still didn't try to intrude, but she couldn't help it. And during sex...During sex, everything started to let go, and she had realized one of her boyfriends was cheating on her while they were in bed together, and that another lover had thought that her mutation was intrusive and scared him while she was on her hands and knees in front of him. Even with friendships it could be hard, which is why her inner circle was small.

 _You think I would be texting you for a booty call?_

Clary could just imagine the disgusting curl of Alec's lip as she read the latest text from him, and she couldn't help but smile at her phone. He didn't even bother waiting for her reply before sending off the next reply.

 _I'll come get you. Where are you?_

Clary considered telling him that she would meet up with them later. It had been a while since she had caught up with Maia and Jordan, and they had just broken some big news. But it had been three hours already, and they would all probably start going home soon anyway, so she sent off a quick message to Alec with her location.

 _The Sugar Bowl cafe._

Two seconds later, Alec was walking through the front door, his eyes sweeping the room before spotting her, and coming directly over to the table. After discovering what Alec's mutation was, that he could teleport anywhere that he had been before, it was no surprise that he could show up with a click of his fingers, but she found it pretty adorable that he knew exactly where the _Sugar Bowl_ cafe was, since he could only teleport to places that he had been before, or that he could see.

Undoubtedly it would have been Magnus' idea to drag him here at some point.

"Let's go," Alec wasted no times with formalities.

"Wait," Simon raised an eyebrow as he swiveled in his chair to look up at Alec. "Is this him?" The surprise on his face was evident. "Is this your boyfriend?"

"What?" Alec screwed up his nose and gave a sharp shake of his head. " _No_." It probably sounded like an insult to people who didn't know Alec, but the man was just blunt, and straight to the point. Clary let out a short laugh, but she couldn't help but be surprised that Alec had actually come straight over to her, making himself obvious to the patrons of the cafe, since he usually kept anonymous. In fact, none of her friends had seen anyone related to Jace's business, because she had tried so carefully to keep them separate, and Jace respected that.

The fact that he was just walking in here, it made her just a little bit worried.

"You ready?" Alec asked with a jerk of his head in the direction of the door. Despite how common mutations were, they weren't always something that got shown off in public. Especially with mutations as powerful as Alec or Clary's, it wasn't something that they put on display.

"Yeah, okay," Clary nodded. She turned back to Maia, letting out another squeal as she leaned across the table and gave the girl one last tight hug. "I'm so happy for you! You guys are going to be the absolute best parents!" Maia laughed, hugging Clary back. "And I'll see you at classes on Monday," she raised an eyebrow at Simon.

 _And then you'll tell me about your mystery man and whoever the fuck this is?_ Simon asked, his voice humming in her head.

 _We'll see,_ she responded and Simon huffed slightly under his breath.

"Bye, Jordan," Clary wiggled her fingers over her shoulder as she followed Alec out of the cafe. "Pretty cute that you've been here before." Alec didn't even bother to reply, just shot her a half-assed glare as they went around the side of the cafe, where they weren't in full view of the public. Alec might be all tough exterior, but the way that he put his hands on Clary's shoulders as he made sure she was ready to teleport, was gentle and careful. The first couple of times that they had done this—just like the first couple of times that anyway teleported—Clary had felt nauseous and light-headed. Alec always waited until she gave him the go-ahead before he transported them anywhere. "Let's go," Clary nodded.

"Right," Alec jerked his head in a nod, and then Clary felt her body jerk slightly, and they were zipped away into thin air.

 _Songwise; I've become completely addicted to Julia Michaels and Camila Cabello. Recent favourites of Julia Michaels are_ Uh-Huh _and_ Worst In Me _, and for Camila Cabello,_ All These Years, Consequences _and_ Somethings Gotta Give _. Especially_ All These Years _! Also there's_ Homeostasis _by Nostalghia, which is an older one. Ooh, and_ White Flag _by Bishop Briggs, which is absolutely amazing, and was sent through by_ Jling _._

 _I'm also still coming down from my Halsey concert high ;) So anything by her is recommended!_

 _So a couple of movies that I've seen over the past month are_ Ready Player One, Love, Simon, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Red Sparrow _and_ Avengers: Infinity War _._ Pacific Rim _was the typical monster versus robot shit, but no one said it was going to be a masterpiece! Haha. It was good for what it was, a depressing lack of Charlie Hunnam though._ Ready Player One _was a lot better than I though it would be, although my hubby and his friends enjoyed it a lot more than I did, given they got a lot more of the references._ Love, Simon _was beautiful and I recommend to all._ Red Sparrow _was okay, a bit long, and because I'm not the biggest fan of Jennifer Lawrence, that was already a bit of a turn off for me._

 _Now._

Avengers: Infinity War.

 _Holy shit._

 _Amazing._

 _Bucky saying 'Steve'? Okoye's side eye! M'Bakku being strong and beautiful! Steve's introduction to Groot? LOKI?! Spidey and Iron Man's last scene? Shuri's little moment? Wanda and Vision! Steve's BEARD?! Daddy AF. Pretty much everything Drax related. Thor's entry into earth?! Bucky and Rocket's interaction?! Probably a hundred thousand more things that I just don't have time to mention! I've already fangirled hard with_ Allieanna _, we're both pretty heartbroken. If you want to fangirl with me, send me a message, I am_ completely _down for that._

 _Let me know what songs you're listening to, if you've seen any of these movies, what you liked about the chapter or what you didn't like and what you think is going to happen next—leave a review, they keep me going :) Let me know if you want a preview as well xx_


	5. Chapter 5

_Happy Pride Month, beautiful people!_

Clary blinked as the world came back into focus again. Her stomach lurched slightly, but it was nowhere near as bad as it used to be when Alec teleported her, she had gotten used to it over the past year. Alec held onto her arm a moment longer, before she gave him a nod and reassured him that she was okay. He stepped away from her, and Clary let herself settle as she looked around, and her mind was instantly flooded with chaotic thoughts of those around her. She was careful not to delve too deep—out of respect of privacy for those round her but also because she didn't _want_ to know exactly what was going on.

Despite the front of being a personal security business, she knew that wasn't just what they did, there were definitely other things tht happened here. She didn't try to take the moral high ground, because in this world, good and bad—right and wrong—were definitely not black and white. There were things that they did that maybe society and herself didn't always agree with, but Clary knew that at times they were necessary for the world to keep on spinning. Once when Jace was extremely stressed out and Clary was trying to soothe his mind, she caught a glimpse of a man, beaten and bloody, tied to a chair. She recognized the man's face, but couldn't place it. Two days later, the man was on the news for abuse of children, and it was revealed that he had shown up dead, with no leads. He was a politician, a man that would have been protected by his money if he had ever gone to trial for what he had done.

 _Clary_ , Jace's voice was soft but anxious inside her head, and Clary turned around to look for the golden haired man. She was in one of his buildings, she recognized the layout as the top floor where Jace's office was. She passed two men as she walked toward his office, both of them wearing padded vests and with guns strapped to their sides. That wasn't particularly unusual, but there was still something going on here that wasn't normal, because everyone's thoughts were working in overtime.

"Jace," Clary murmured as she paused in the doorway and looked at Jace, who was standing next to his glass desk, facing the windows that looked out over the city. He was on the phone, and he smiled over at her as she came in, the corner's of his mouth tight.

 _Helen_ , he told her as he listened to the woman on the other side of the phone. So he was on the phone with Helen Penhallow-Blackthorn was a human with no mutation, and she worked for the state's attorney office. She was square, always wanting to do what was right, but she, just like Clary, understood that things were always clear cut when it came to right and wrong. She knew—just like most other law enforcement—that Jace would be impossible to try and pin down and lay charges against, so occasionally, when their objectives were the same, she would work with him. Her wife, Aline Blackthorn-Penhallow, was also a mutant.

"Alright, well, something has just come up, so I need to go," Jace said into the phone. "But I'll get back to you if my men dig anything up."

 _Won't be long,_ Jace said in her head, and Clary nodded, sitting down on one of the plush, leather seats in front fo his large desk, making herself comfortable and waiting for Jace to finish his call. Apart from Simon, Jace was the only other one who frequently spoke to her inside her head, and who could actually keep his voice at the right volume, so it didn't sound as though he was screaming between her ears.

"Okay, yeah, sounds good," Jace said shortly, and then pulled his phone away from his ear, ending the call and tossing it onto the desk. He stared out the window for a few beats, and Clary tilted her head to the side as she looked up at him. There were people walking around outside, talking to each other in low voices, and their minds were all busy, thoughts overlapping each other. Something big was going on, and from the way that Jace was staring out the window as though he was getting ready to face the world, it was definitely affecting him as well. Clary didn't try to delve into his mind, and he had the mental walls up that Clary had taught him, so it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it. Jace took in a deep breath and rubbed his hand over his face. "Hey," he greeted her, his voice low.

"Hi," Clary said carefully, leaning forward in the seat she was in. Jace went quiet again before pushing off the desk and coming around to stand in front of her.

"Sorry, just...A lot going on," he apologized quietly.

"I can hear," Clary nodded, answering honestly. Jace nodded as well, but didn't ask her if she was listening in to the individual conversations or if she knew what was going on. He trusted her, knowing that she would be carding through any of his men's minds, or his, without his permission. Just because she _could_ do it, didn't mean she _did_. Jace looked over her head, out the door, where is men were moving around and talking. It was unusual for it to be so busy on this floor, because this was the floor where Jace's office was, and it was where he did most of his paperwork and made calls, rather than held meetings and gathered his men.

"What are you doing here?" Jace asked, his finger twitching at his side, and the door swung shut, pushed by the metal handle and frame.

"Alec came and got me," Clary answered. "He text me, and said that you wanted to see me." Jace huffed out a laugh and shook his head. He wasn't annoyed or upset at seeing her, although he was surprised. "Actually, he said you _needed_ to see, which made me think that you wanted to..." she let her eyes trail up and down Jace's body purposefully, and despite how concerned his eyes were, his lips quirked in a small smile. "But now I'm thinking that maybe there's a different reason why I'm here."

"Yeah," Jace breathed, hooking one of his fingers under Clary's chin and tipped her face up so that she was looking up at him. He was so tall compared to her, even when she was standing, and most _definitely_ when she was sitting down. "Alec always knows what I need." His smile relaxed, and although there was still tension lines between his eyebrows, it was a more genuine smile, and he leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the mouth. Clary kissed him back, reaching up with hand to cup his cheek, tracing her thumb over his cheekbone. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers before opening his eyes again.

"You want to talk about it?" Clary asked softly. Jace pursed his lips as he backed up, sitting down on the edge of his desk and folding his arms over his chest.

"Nah," he shook his head. "Maybe later. Just someone from my past is back in town, and they're not really someone that I ever wanted to see again." Clary nodded, but respected his wishes and didn't ask any further questions. "So what have you been up to this morning? Did Alec interrupt anything?"

"I was just finishing up breakfast with some friends," Clary replied with a smile. "You know my friend Maia?" Just because Jace hadn't met her friends, didn't mean that Jace didn't know about them. "She's pregnant."

"Oh, really?" Jace gave a small smile. "She's the one with Jordan, right?"

"Yup," Clary nodded. "They're both so happy, you don't need to be telepathic to be able to see how happy they are." Jace's smile faded at how wistful Clary sounded as she got up and walked over to the large windows. They were on the sixteenth floor of the building. Jace owned the whole building, along with several other ones, but he rented out the lower twelve floors to other business. Thirteen was kept empty, to put some space between the lower floors and the top ones, and then Jace's own businesses were spread out over the remaining three floors. It was near the edge of the city, away from the other tall buildings, so there wasn't anything blocking view as Clary looked out.

"Is that something you want some day?" Jace asked. Clary's eyebrow lifted, but Jace couldn't see the change in expression with the way she was facing.

"Yup," she replied. "One day." She could sense his surprise, and she smiled as she turned around and faced him. "Why, you thought I didn't want kids?"

"Uh, no, not exactly," Jace shrugged. "I could imagine you as a mum—you'd be great. I just didn't think you would say 'yes'."

"You thought I would lie?" Clary frowned. "There's no way in hell you would get away with lying to me, it wouldn't be fair if I did it right to your face."

"Well, when you put it like that..." Jace half-smiled. Clary walked over to where he was standing, his ass resting against his desk. She stood in front of them, their thighs pressed together. The ring on her thumb hummed slightly, Jace's powers seeking out the exotic metal on her hand at their close proximity. His mind was messy, and despite how much he was trying to push everything back, she could tell that he was distracted and he was also in pain. Whatever it was that had come up, it was hurting. It was a deep hurt, something that was buried deep inside, probably something from the past, which was something that Clary knew very little about.

"I can help," she said softly, lifting her hand to rest on his bicep. Jace pursed his lips together and looked as though he was going to refuse, but Clary continued. "You know that I don't need to read what's going on in your head to calm things down in there." Jace licked his lips and then after a moment, he nodded. Clary smiled and lifted her hand to rest two fingers against his temple. She didn't need to touch him for her power to work. If it was contact that triggered her mutation, that would make her life so much easier.

But she just liked the feeling of Jace's skin under the pads of her fingers, and Jace liked it as well, from the way he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. She worked efficiently, skimming through the thoughts in his mind without dipping into them, soothing the messiness in his head. When Jace opened his eyes, they looked clearer, a lot more peaceful than they had a minute ago.

He leaned forward, their lips coming together gently.

 _So! My song recommendations this time are_ Help Me Close My Eyes _by Those Dancing Days,_ Burn So Bright _by Bella Thorne and_ Broken Prayers _by Riley Clemmons. Ooh—and_ I Wanna Know _by Bea Miller. Shit, I love most things by Bea, she's bloody amazing, and I've had this song on repeat, for like the past two months. Haha. Oh, and_ Go Dark _by Cassie Steele! It took me a while to get into this one, but I adore it now. Ooh ooh! And_ Lie _by Halsey featuring Quavo. Fucking looove it. Although let's face it, I love everything by her. Omg! And also_ What I Need _by Hayley Kiyoko featuring Kehlani. I've only recently gotten into Kehlani, since I saw her open for Halsey, but I adore Hayley, and I'm so glad she's becoming more popular. This video has just come out and its amaaazing._

 _In other news...The second season of_ Queer Eye _is almost out! Whoop whoop! I bloody love them all, and I cried in every single episode of the first season. Antoni is just bloody beautiful, and Tan and Karamo...Omfg. Gorgeous. And then Bobby is so talented and Jonathan is amazing. Haha. I recommend to all! Also, has everyone seen the new_ Robin Hood _trailer? I love Taron Egerton, can't wait for the movie!_

 _I've starting dabbling in oneshots again. I generally post them all at one time, when I've got chance to come back and edit them all properly, but I'm taking requests if you want to see them through. Doesn't have to specifically be this fandom, go onto my profile and check out other fandoms I'm in or send me a message. Send through songs or ideas and I can try to make them work!_

 _Lastly, I keep meaning to pimp out the amaaazing reppinda5o3, who I absolutely adore. First of all she's got this amazing trilogy that is currently on it's second installment, first one called_ Send My Love (To Your New Lover) _and the second is called_ Hello _. Then there's her latest story and I've fallen in love and we're just one chapter deep,_ Set Fire To The Rain _. And then her baby,_ Clarissa Is A Punk _, which is an angsty ride, but I trust her to get us there in the end! Go and check them out and show her some love. She's ridiculously busy, but she still finds time to write, and her detail and care in her writing is insane, and also listen to me with my one million ideas and was also one of the people to keep me sane when I was house bound for a few months. Including keeping my company literally as I'm typing this because I'm home sick. So go. Go, go, go, go, go!_

 _Send me your recommendations, send me your thoughts on the story, send me anything and I will reply when I can! Let me know if you want a preview xxx_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys._

 _Okay. So..._

 _This is a bit weird, but I thought I should probably post something._

 _I've had a few messages from people, and I've replied to a couple of them, but I guess it would be more fair to post this for everyone to see._

 _I'm just taking a bit of a break from here. I've got a lot going on at the moment; my heads a bit of a mess, my relationship needs work, my job is going through a a lot of changes which is stressful and honestly I'm just not doing too great. Usually writing is my outlet but I've been really stumped lately. I've managed to write a few oneshots but I'm just not happy with them and I just_ can't _write. I open up word documents like every night and just can't get anything out, and when I finally do, I'm not happy with what I do. Over the past six weeks or so I've gotten some shitty reviews which are always from anon's because why would they log in to leave feedback and have a conversation about it? I delete them because I'm one of those people who just re-read and re-read them and obsess over them and it just isn't a great time! So maybe that's got something to do with how..._ Not _like writing I feel._

 _I'm posting this on all of my stories, even the ones I don't update regularly, because I'm not sure how long it'll be before I update. I'm going to try get around to all the reviews I haven't replied to and the messages that are piled up in my inbox, and I_ _hope I'll snap out of my funk soon and then it'll be back to normal :)_

 _I love you guys, 99% of you are absolutely amazing and you're so supportive and patient with me, and I want to say thank you for that x_


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey, beautiful people!_

 _I'm back! You guys have all been beautiful and I appreciate all of your kind words. I'm feeling a lot better, although, as anyone suffering from anxiety, depression and any other lovely mental health issues, I'm taking one day at a time. Still feeling a little...Iffy, but hey. That's life._

 _We're coming up to the end of the year and I always take a couple of months off over Christmas/New Years. So what I'm going to do is update all my stories at the beginning of each month until I go on a break over December/January and then I'll go back to a regular schedule with two monthly updates._

 _Also, a few of you guys tried to help out and suggested maybe if I didn't write so many stories, I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I absolutely love that you guys are trying to help, but the amount of stories isn't the problem. My problems are outside of this little fandom world I try to bury myself in, and the thing that was making it difficult for me to enjoy posting and updating and interacting with you guys was because of a few nasty reviews that just really hit when I was feeling pretty damn shit. So, thank you! But it's okay, I manage sharing out my time on each story well, since I get inspired for different stories all the time and bounce all over the place!_

 _Anyway, on with the story..._

Things settled down mid afternoon, although Clary could tell that there were still more people on the floor than there usually was. Alec came in, appearing out of thin air to hand a couple of manila folders over to Jace. Jace nodded, but didn't look at them, putting them on the table and then turning back to Clary. Usually if Jace was at his office, it was all about work, but obviously he didn't feel as though that applied today, because he was more than happy to put it all to the side and just talk to Clary. Or mainly, he listened.

She talked about her kids at work, and about Simon, Maia and Jordan. She might have also started gushing about the baby and flicking through a couple of websites for baby clothes. Jace gave her a small smile, letting her go on and on. He wasn't one for showing public affection, especially at his work, when there were people outside the glass walls of his office, but he reached out and touched her knee and shoulder a couple of times, his fingers trailing through her hair at one point when he got up get a glass of water from the jug in the corner of the room.

"You want to order something in?" Jace asked, holding out his hand and his phone snapped from the desk top to between his fingers. "It's getting close to dinner."

"You know I'm always down for food," Clary smirked.

"Thai?" Jace asked, although he was already dialing the number, and Clary was nodding and smiling. He placed their order, knowing exactly what Clary wanted given how frequently they ordered Thai. Not always from the same place, because Jace was paranoid about things like that, and so sometimes the food wasn't as good as the last time they had ordered, but they still always got the same thing. After Jace ordered their food, he made another call. "Max?" He waited for a response, before continuing to talk. "Yeah, I need you to go and pick up our dinner." He gave Max Lightwood the name of the Thai restaurant that they had ordered from and then put his phone back down on the desk.

"Not sending one of your minions from out there to get our dinner?" Clary teased as she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, to the three men that were sitting around the desk outside, all of them armed and armored.

"No, they're staying here," Jace replied off-handedly, although his eyes were calculated as they flickered toward the men outside. "Especially when you're here." Clary's eyebrows pulled together at that last comment, but then Jace was getting up from the leather seat that he had been sitting in beside Clary, and walked around to the other side of the his desk to tap something out on his keyboard. "How about we find something to watch while we're waiting for dinner? They said it was about a twenty minute wait."

"I'm always down for re-watching _Sense8_ ," Clary offered and Jace nodded, pulling up his Netflix account and finding the show that she had mentioned. He turned the laptop around, so that it was facing the two leather seats that they had been sitting in.

"Haven't we already watched that one?" Jace muttered as the show began.

" _I've_ watched it about five times," Clary mumbled, her eyes fixed on the screen. "You're always been distracted when I've put it on, busy with your work. Besides, the finale just came out a few months ago, and I've only watched that twice. Those are rookie numbers," she grinned at him for a moment before looking back at the screen of his laptop. Jace glanced over at her, his eyes sliding down the gentle slope of her nose and the the flutter of her eyelashes against her cheekbones. It was true, he was a busy man, and a lot of the time that they were together, he was doing work, so he was distracted when she put things on the TV. Sometimes she would be doing work as well, writing notes and papers, occasionally she would even be painting or drawing, which he loved to watch.

Originally, he had only sought out Clary because he needed her help. He needed a telepath that he could trust.

He had come across four other telepaths in his life, they were uncommon, but they weren't impossible to find. Mutants as powerful as Clary, though, _they_ were uncommon. It was Alec and a couple of his other closest men who had discovered her, and they had watched her for almost a month before they had approached her. A lot of telepaths ended up wrapped in illegal business, using their powers to their advantage. But everything that got reported back to him said that she was a genuinely good person.

She worked at the University, got on well with her students and the other staff members. She had a couple of good friends—her TA, a nerdy looking mutant, a couple of humans—and even though they didn't live in the city, she had a good relationship with both of her parents. She lived in a modest apartment, and didn't have any hidden bank accounts or safety deposit boxes under false names. She donated to charity, and she always smiled at the woman behind the counter of her coffee shop.

Clary had known that there were people following her and keeping an eye on her, although at first she didn't know who they were, what they wanted, who they worked for, and she didn't always know that she was being watched, only that they were occasionally there. Jace's men were discreet, Alec loved to disappear into the shadows if that meant he didn't need to hold conversation with people. It took her a while to catch on, since Jace's men wore telepathic blockers, which would never have worked if she was actually _trying_ to read their minds, but she didn't even know that they existed, so she wasn't focusing on them. Jace was also careful to have his men swapping out, so that the same people weren't around her. Even so, after a few weeks, she seemed to sense familiar presences around her that she couldn't put her finger on, and that was when she started wheedling her way into their minds, picking out information that they had no idea she was stealing.

Jace didn't actually know any of this until she actually decided to help him.

Jace had approached her late one night, it was nearly midnight, and she had been at some meeting at the University, and Jace hadn't been sure how long she was going to be, but he had decided that tonight was going to be the night that he introduced himself. He was in a limo, Raphael in the drivers seat, singing along to some stupid song on the radio, Alec sitting next to him in the back, muttering about what a bad idea this was.

Jace was ignoring them both and gotten out of the car to go down the street after her.

She had sensed him following her, he could tell by the subtle changes of movement, her footsteps hesitated and then quickened, and her fingers twitched at her side, flexing around the strap of her bag. She kept on walking, but she had been nervous. Jace was used to that, and so he had told Alec and Raphael to hang back as he had called out her name.

He needed her help for two reasons. The first was that telepaths were usually types of mutants that his enemies would try to have on their side. Some telepaths would manipulate thoughts and force others to do as they wanted. Others could easily just read people's minds. Either way, they were powerful allies. There were ways to strengthen ones mind to at least be able to protect the most dangerous and important of secrets. It wasn't something that would stand up to the most powerful telepaths—such as Clary—but it would work for some of the lower, more common types of telepaths. The second thing was that there was a leak inside his organization, someone who was relatively high up, because they were giving information out to several of his competitors, and he needed her help finding out who it was.

In just a minute of actually meeting her and speaking to her for the first time, Jace knew that Clary was going to have an impact on his life.

A _big_ impact.

She took a few days before giving him a reply, and when she did, she told him that she had conditions. Jace wasn't used to be told the rules, and he respected that about her. She didn't want to know details about his business unless she specifically asked. She had heard about him, and she had an idea of what kind of world he was apart of, and while she wasn't going to judge him on his life choices, she didn't want to know more than she had to. Clary also didn't want him showing up at the University where she taught, not unless she specifically agreed to it beforehand. That was her place of work, and that job was her priority, not whatever side deal she had with him. She also didn't want any of her friends or family involved, _ever_ , they had to be completely protected from his life. And the last thing was that he never ask her to enter into the mind of someone that he was planning to kill within the next few hours. Her breathing had hitched when she had said that, and Jace had worried for a moment that she was going to back out at the idea of being surrounded by people that were had the possibility of actually committing murder. But she had just shaken her head and said that if she was specifically delving into someone's mind, it could take several hours for the connection to fully dissipate, and she didn't want to still be connected to someone who was going to be dealt a violent death.

It hadn't take long for them to get together.

They had never had a discussion of exclusivity, but after several months, Clary knew that there was no one else. Jace was a possessive man in general, and as he and Clary got closer, it was clear that extended to her.

Unlike so many of her previous lovers, Jace had no problem with her inside his head. In fact, he encouraged it. He knew that she wouldn't betray him, go searching for things that he wasn't ready to share. Because of this, Clary knew that he wasn't seeing anyone else, given she was always the only one on his mind. Jace also knew that Clary wasn't seeing anyone, because he was having her watched. His intentions were good, and he had been having her watched right from the start—before they started sleeping together—it was his way of keeping her safe in case anyone linked them together, but that little extra bit of information helped as well.

"Hey," Clary's voice was soft, and he felt her in his head, just gently, drawing him back to the present. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Jace reached out to take her hand, his thumb rubbing over the metal ring on her finger, feeling it hum under his touch. "I'm fine."

 _Okay! I have so many recommendations, so I apologize in advance for how long this is going to be._

 _Songs!_ Back To You _by Selena Gomez. Holy shit. Words can't even express how much I love this song. Like...My heart, every time...Shit. Yes. And all the fandom videos to this song on Youtube, I'm just loving all of them, they're just incredible. Then there's_ Somethin' We Shouldn't Do _by Chad Brownlee,_ Bad Company _by Five Finger Death Punch,_ Higher _by The Score,_ Panic Attacks _by Elohim and then_ I Said Hi, Mess Her Up _and_ Middle of the Night _by Amy Shark. I've become completely obsessed with Amy Shark. Haha. Then there's also_ Sober _by Demi Lovato...Which does all sorts of different things to my heart now, than Back To You. After her recent relapse, I get a little teary when listening to it..._

 _So movie/TV series wise..._ Alex Strangelove _\- It's quirky and awkward and fucking hilarious and it made me so happy. All of the characters are just so beautiful and well-written and realistic. It's a bit weird, I absolutely cringed a few times and definitely has some areas it could improve on, but if I'm being totally honest...I think it may actually be in like my top twenty movies. It just made me feel so good. My hubby loved it as well. And then there's_ Jane The Virgin _, which we're slowly getting through. My husband is firmly Team Raphael while I'm firmly Team Michael...Now that he's back, I have high hopes. LOL. Also I've recently gotten into_ Reign _, and I'm in love._

 _Also, is anyone else watching_ Who Is America _? Holy shit. It makes me cringe to the point where I hide my face in a pillow, but it's hilarious and chilling and I recommend to all._

 _Anyway, let me know if you guys have any recommendations. Leave a review, let me know what you think, because your reviews mean so much to me xx_


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey, beautiful people! Here's the next update, hope you guys enjoy it._ _Also_ — _I've got Pink's concert next weekend! She's going to be fucking amazing!_

"So who is it that you're having a friendly chat with today?" Clary asked, her voice slightly teasing. It was a Thursday morning, and she had no classes today, and Jace had asked if she could come with him to a meeting on the other side of town, in the industrial area. Alec had appeared in her apartment after she had sent a text to Jace saying that he was ready. Alec and Max were the only one's of Jace's men who had been in her apartment, even Jace hadn't been there. Alec and Max had only been there because of their abilities to teleport, otherwise Jace wouldn't have allowed them there, wanting to keep her home safe.

"His name is Hodge," Jace answered as he buttoned up his white shirt over the bullet-proof vest he was wearing. "Hodge Starkweather." Clary frowned as she searched through her memory, recognizing the name. Isabelle Lightwood came into the room while she was thinking, smiling widely at Clary as she came over.

"Hey, babe," Isabelle greeted her.

"Hi, Isabelle," Clary gave the dark haired girl a smile.

"Jace wants you to wear this," Isabelle held up her hand, and hanging off one finger was a bullet-proof vest, almost identical to the one that Jace was wearing, just in a smaller size. Clary cast her confused eyes over to Jace.

"I don't think there's going to be any problems," Jace muttered. "But just in case," he nodded at the vest. Clary bit down on her lower lip and swallowed hard as Isabelle walked over and handed her the vest. Jace had always been careful with her, most of the time he kept her at a distance when it came to his meetings, in a separate room from where the meeting was taking place, or out in the car with one of his men. It was the same today, she meant to stay behind in the fully armored SUV with Raphael, stretching out her mind to keep Jace's mind safe from any telepath that Hodge might bring, and probe into Hodge's mind to search for any information.

"Alright," Clary said and Isabelle flashed her a quick smile before leaving the room again. They were in Jace's office on the top floor, but there were barely any men on the floor, like there were last time Clary was there. Isabelle was facing the other way outside, and so was Raphael, so Clary stripped out of the sweatshirt she was wearing, and took off her shirt, so that the bullet-proof vest could fit snugly against her chest. Jace watched her put it on, and then moves forward, fingers expertly tightening the straps at her side and fixing the velcro. She had worn them a couple of times before, but they were easy enough to adjust.

"He's a bad guy, but he's not violent," Jace told her quietly.

"But you still want me to wear a vest?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow as she pulled her shirt back over her head. Jace approached her, straightening out the shirt that she was wearing, smoothing his hands over her shoulders and tugging at the sleeves.

"It's just a precaution," he muttered. The pressure and worry was back in his head, she had felt it there since Alec had brought her here an hour ago. And it wasn't just about Hodge, it was the same thing that had been worrying him the other day. She still hadn't pried, she respected that it was something that he was keeping close to his chest, and trusted that he would tell her when he was ready.

"So," Clary began as she pulled on her sweatshirt and straightened it out. The bullet-proof vest was made of some of the most expensive material there was, and it was thin, barely even visible once she had her sweatshirt on. It just looked as though she was wearing layers of clothing. "Hodge. Is there any particular reason for the meeting today? And why you need me to come?"

"He asked to meet," Jace said as he looked down at the expensive watch on his wrist. "I'm not sure why, he's not someone that I usually do business with." Clary pursed her lips together.

"Can I see?" She asked softly. Jace nodded without hesitation. Clary stared at him for a moment, and then felt herself get sucked into Jace's mind. There were his big concerns, the things that he had been worried about for the past week or so, but she skimmed past those. There were a few other things, there was her, and his cousins, and something about a new building that he had just purchased and was getting renovated.

And then there was Hodge.

Jace's mind was beautiful, and she could spend forever in there if that was a possibility. She spent a lot more time in his head that she had with anyone else, in her whole life. A lot of people didn't want everything laid bare, and she could completely understand. A lot of people didn't know how her power worked, the fact that she didn't _have_ to uncover every single one of their buried secrets, she could dance right over those. But Jace knew how powerful she was, he knew what sort of control she had, and he trusted her inside that beautiful, scary mind of his.

Hodge Starkweather was a business man, and he was dangerous, despite Jace dismissing himself so easily. He was technically a property developer, but 'loan shark' seemed to be the better word to describe him, just from what Clary gathered from Jace's thoughts. He signed people in at a low rental agreements with loopholes in the contracts, which stopped them from being able to back out, but didn't lock in a fixed amount. He inflated the prices rapidly, until people could barely afford to cover the rent for their homes or businesses. He also loaned out money, making it seem as though they would be able to afford the interest rates, and then all of a sudden hitting them with penalties that were crippling when they couldn't afford to make the repayments.

His mutation was that he could see peoples worst fears, and he would play on it. Clary hated men like that, taking advantage of people using their powers. That was why so many people feared mutants. It sounded like a powerful mutation, but it was mainly only smoke and mirrors. He couldn't transform into that fear, or project it, he could just use it to manipulate people.

"Doesn't sound like a nice person," Clary concluded as she withdrew from his mind, and Jace shook his head from side to side ever so slightly.

"He's not," Jace agreed with a shrug. "But he's also not the worse. I've never had anything to do with him before, he's not someone that I've ever been in business with before. I don't know why he wants to meet, and that's why I want you to come. But you," he lifted his hand to touch his finger to her nose, softly pressing down. "You're going to stay in the car. I don't think this man is stupid enough to try anything, but I want you to keep him out of my head, and make sure he's not lying to me when we're in there."

"I can do that," Clary nodded. There was a knock at the door, and Clary knew that it was Isabelle standing there before she turned around. Isabelle looked pretty badass, decked out in armor with a leather jacket on, and a gun and a lethal looking knife strapped to her hipped.

"Let's go," Isabelle said with a nod to Jace. Alec and two other men appeared at the doorway, and Jace put his hand on Clary's lower back as they walked from the room. The six of them headed for the elevator—the private elevator that only Jace and his men had access to, not any of the other floors. They took the elevator to the ground floor, and Isabelle and Alec stepped out first, glancing around before jerking their heads at the rest of the people in the elevator. They walked quickly, out of the building and toward the two SUV's that were parked at the curb. Isabelle and the two men headed for the first car, while Alec pulled open the door for the second one, waiting for Jace and Clary to get in before shutting the door and getting in the front seat, next to Raphael.

"Morning, boss," Raphael said, looking over his shoulder at the two of them. "Morning, _florecita_." Clary gave him a small smile, and then Raphael turned back around and pulled away from the curb, following close behind the first SUV. They had been driving for nearly twenty minutes, going from one side of the city toward the other side, when Clary began to get a bad feeling.

"You alright?" Jace asked, his eyebrows pulling together as he noticed Clary's change in expression.

"Yeah," she flashed him with a small smile and looked ahead. She was just taking on the worries and concerns from Jace and the people around her. Even Raphael, who was usually so easy going and completely relaxed, had had a cloud hanging over his head since Alec had brought her to the building last weekend.

"You sure?" Jace still looked a little nervous as he reached over and took her hand. There was a slight pressure from her ring, but Clary just nodded, looking out the window.

"Five minutes out, boss," Raphael said over his shoulder. They had reached the other side of the far side of the city, the industrial area where there were burnt out cars in front of almost every haggard looking building, and most of the warehouses around them all looked abandoned. There a couple of people that Clary saw, most of them looked homeless, two of them just looked like teenagers who were looking for trouble. She still couldn't shake that feeling inside her, that something was wrong, but even as she searched for what was causing that niggling feeling inside of her, skimming through the minds around her, she just couldn't place it.

That was until, all of a sudden, her body jerked forward, and their car was spinning through the air.

 _Now, my first thing is a Youtube video. It's only a couple of minutes, but it is absolutely fucking beautiful, my heart just...Shit. Anyway. Watch it. It's called_ Homophobia In 2018 | Time For Love _on the channel BBC Social. Please watch it. It's just a few minutes, just a tiny bit of your day, but it's just incredible._

 _Okay! So I have so many songs! Okay, so_ Afterlife _by XYLO. And then_ 1950 _and_ Talia _by King Princess—also, I heard that she and Amanda Stenburg are dating? Not sure if that's true, but damn cute couple if they are. Then there's_ Wild Love _by James Bay. The music video for this is absolutely amazing, Natalia looks fucking heavenly. I can't get over that song. Then there's_ Skydiving, Saviour _and_ We Were Here _by Lights. And then an older one,_ Life After You _, by Daughtry._ And What's Love Got To Do With It _, the cover by Prides, which I heard in_ Dynasty _and fell in love with._

Cloak and Dagger _has recently finished and it was amazing, and you should all definitely be watching it. There's also the show_ Castle Rock _that we've just started with Bill Skaarsgard, and I'll watch anything with him in it. Movie wise, we've recently watched_ Game Night _and_ Stronger _, which were both really good. We're September now and there's so many new seasons of my shows starting! What ones are you guys looking forward to?_

 _As a closing note, is anyone else keeping up with all this Jeffree Star drama and his ex-friends? I'm finding all of it hilarious. Me and one my best friends are in love with it all. Haha. Oh—and 21/08/2018 was apparently Fanfiction Appreciation Day! So, happy...That? Haha._

 _OMG—and everyone should watch_ Crazy Rich Asians _. I fucking loved it._

 _Let me know what you thought of the story, let me know if you want a preview of the next chapter x_


	9. Chapter 9

"Clary!" Jace shouted out, and she blinked as she regained consciousness after realizing that she must have actually been knocked out for a minute, because things were different than when her eyes had been opened a moment ago. Everything was a bit fuzzy around the edges, and there was something sticky along her hairline and spilling over her forehead, toward her eyebrow. "Clary!" Her shoulder was sore, it was throbbing, and her head hurt, and there was a tightness around her thumb that was becoming almost impossible to ignore. " _Clary_!" Jace's voice was panicked and Clary twisted her head, looking over to where Jace was crouched on the ground of the vehicle. The car had landed the right way up, but the doors were all dented and the roof was caved in. She felt relief flood through him as he realized that she was okay, but then she also became aware of the noise outside.

Gunfire.

 _So much_ gunfire _._

She had only ever heard it on television before, but it was unmistakable.

It was thunderous, shots going off one after another with barely any pause—machine guns, Clary surmised from her limited knowledge of weaponry, and it felt as though her stomach was completely filled with something heavy.

"Jace," Alec gasped out, and Clary looked forward to where Alec was twisted at an awkward angle between the front two seats. Something tore through the window—a bullet—and glass shattered everywhere, spraying over their bodies. Jace reached out, covering her face with his arm, trying to protect her, pulling her in close to his body.

"Get us out of here!" Jace snapped at Alec, his whole body strung tight with tension. Raphael had managed to get his door open and was half out of the car, pulling himself up with one foot on the metal step of the SUV so that he could look over the roof of the car. His eyes were wide and he had his gun in his hand as he tried to pin point the direction where the shots were coming from. He wasn't firing off, though, and when Clary peeked out the window, she realized why.

All around them was a dense fog, a mist, as though they were in the middle of a dank forest. Clary could barely see a metre or so in front of her face.

Alec was hurt, Clary could see the pain on his face, and she wanted to try and soothe it with her power, but her head was throbbing and she was scared, and she just couldn't concentrate.

Alec reached out for them, wincing as he did so, and she saw the blood dripping from his shoulder, through his clothes. He wrapped one hand around Clary's wrist and slapped the other hand down on Jace's shoulder, and then all three of them whipped out of the car. They reappeared several feet away, against a hard, brick wall of one of the abandoned buildings. Raphael saw them and backed away from the car, his eyes still darting around as he held his weapon at the ready as he took up a protective stance in front of the three. Jace stretched out his hand, and the SUV suddenly squealed as it moved towards them, and started twisting in shape so that it was blocking off the entrance way of the tiny alcove that they were in, trapping the four of them inside.

"You need to get us out of here, Alec! Get us _anywhere_ else!" Jace snarled, his eyes flickering between his two men and Clary, who was shaking and reaching up her fingers to touch the thick red blood that was now dripping into her eyes. They were left in the open, and given the mist that was still hanging thick around them, they were still blinded to where they were being attacked from.

But then the car was being ripped away, and they were left in the open.

"It's a telekenetic," Alec hissed through his teeth, and the cold feeling that had been resting in Clary's stomach spread through her limbs.

A _telekenetic_.

Raphael jumped up from his crouched position, his gun going off in rapid fire, in the general direction that it sounded as though the gunshots were coming from. Clary squeezed her eyes shut, trying to reach out to the people around them, to Jace's men. She could sense Isabelle, and Alec's pain kept finding it's way into her thoughts. Jace was shouting, he was shouting at Alec, and Clary knew that he was trying hard to gather his remaining strength to teleport them out of there, but he was struggling.

 _Alec_ , Clary focused on the dark haired man, trying to shut out the commotion around them, trying to ignore the fact that there was another telekentic around, sending cars flying in every direction, because the fact that they were up against a telekentic made her want to curl up in a ball. Jace was now standing, his hands reaching out to protect them, twisting and crumbling the metal objects that were coming flying in their direction. Isabelle and one of the other men, Theo Cohen, from the car in front of theirs, came running into the alcove with them, there was blood on Isabelle's face, and the other man was limping, and although Clary could tell they were afraid, their expressions were grim and determined. _Alec_ , Clary repeated. _Let me help_.

Alec glared over at Clary, but he relented after a moment, letting her into his head without any resistance. She tried to block out the pain for him, letting him regain his strength without the worries of the pain dragging him down.

There was so much noise around them, Clary was trying to help Isabelle with the pain she was feeling as well, and she was trying to ignore the throbbing in her own head. There were bullets flying in their direction, and Jace was sending them soaring upwards, or toward the buildings, harmlessly falling the side. Alec seemed to be able to draw his strength, and Clary withdrew from his mind, staring up helpless from where she was huddled on the ground.

"Jace," Clary didn't want to distract him, she knew how much he needed to concentrate right now but she needed to tell him.

 _She couldn't find the other telekenetic_.

She couldn't find the source.

She couldn't read their mind.

They were protected.

And if they were protected, then that had to mean that there had to be another telepath, working alongside whoever it was that was behind this attack.

It was just a void, and even though she couldn't focus entirely on penetrating the barrier that was blocking her, she still had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to break through. There was just this chasm and she couldn't see or feel anything within it.

"Jace, I can't—"

"Just _stay down_ , Clary!" Jace shouted at her as a massive concrete pillar that had rebar sticking out of it dangerously came flying toward them. Jace's hand lashed out, and it went crashing into the building beside them. Concrete shards fell down, showering over them, and Clary let out a squawk as chunk fell on her shoulder. Jace looked down at her, distracted by her sound of pain, when one of their SUV's came flying toward them. Jace only caught it at the last minute, trying to deflect it, but it clipped Isabelle in the side, sending her flying into the brick wall with a sickening thud.

"Izzy!" Alec cried out, and Clary reached out, sensing that Isabelle was alive, just injured, and unconscious.

"Alec!" Jace shouted. Alec was panting, blood was falling from his shoulder, it had soaked through his clothes, and his arm was hanging awkwardly.

"Let him take Isabelle first," Clary told Jace.

"He can take all of us," Jace argued. Alec was trying to concentrate, he was squinting, and he was flickering right in front of their eyes. The bullets were still flying, loud, screeching through the air, and Raphael and the man who had been in the SUV with Isabelle were reloading their weapons and trying to protect themselves, and their boss.

"No, he can't!" Clary shouted. Jace looked at her, and she could feel his mind reeling. He wanted to protect her, he wanted to protect his men. "Let him take Isabelle, and then come back for us," she tried to reason with him. Jace swallowed hard and then jerked his head in a nod. He turned back around, and there was a squealing—a screeching protest from one of the cars that had fallen in front of them as Jace's hands clenched into a fist. The giant ball of metal that had once been a car went flying toward the opposite side of the street.

Alec made it to Isabelle, and wrapped an arm around her. He was looking around worriedly, and Clary could completely understand his concern—near the entrance of the alcove, they were completely in the open, exposed to the gunshots that were coming their way. Jace was intercepting all of them, but it was still terrifying.

Alec and Isabelle disappeared, and Clary felt herself let out a sigh of relief, knowing that at least two of them were safe.

"Do you know where the shots are coming from?!" Jace shouted over at Clary as he sent a handful of bullets smashing into the building next to them. A shower a concrete and plaster fell down, spattering over the four who were left in the alley.

"I can't! I can't—I can't read their minds! I can't feel _anything_!" Clary admitted, blinking as another roll of mist came toward them, making it even harder to see in front of them. Raphael let out a shout and his body jerked to the side. Clary felt a surge of pain rush through the man, and Theo, who had been in the car with Isabelle, wrapped an arm around Raphael and pulled him backwards.

"We're fading fast, boss," the man commented, raising his voice to be heard over the noise around them. "We're fighting against invisible people—we have no idea where they are!" Jace's face was a grimace, because he knew the man was right. But Alec would be back soon, and he would be able to get them all out of here. At least, that's what he hoped. Alec had been badly hurt and it was affecting his power.

Clary was crouched against the wall, behind Jace, trying to protect her head when suddenly the cloud lifted from her mind, and suddenly she was able to see each and every single one of the attackers. There were six, and one of them was right—

"Jace!" Clary screamed out as a person materialized in front of them, out of the thick smoke. It was a girl, with long blonde hair, and if her mind wasn't viciously intent on harming them, maybe she would be considered beautiful. She completely ignored Raphael and the man to the side, who lifted his arm and fired off a shot at her.

"What the fuck..." Jace breathed, stilling as the girl deflected the bullet by her body transforming _completely_ , her body suddenly looking as though she was fully made of glass. Her thoughts instantly disappeared from Clary's mind, but she had seen enough. Everything was already happening to fast, and she had to get Jace _out of the way_.

"No—Jace!" Clary jumped up from the ground, ignoring the aches in her body from the concrete that had hit her, colliding with Jace and pushing him out of the way.

"Clary!" Jace growled, reaching out for her, trying to pull him with her. Alec suddenly appeared, looking even worse, more pale and blood soaking right through his shirt now, one arm and shoulder completely red. "No, take Clary!" Jace tried to argue as Alec wrapped a hand around his wrist, but Clary just shook her head.

The blonde girl in front of them suddenly turned human again, as though it was as easy to shift between her dense glass state and flesh and bone like snapping her fingers. Her eyes were once again on Jace, and she lashed out her hand, and her hand was glass now, and thick, deadly looking shards flew from her fingers. Clary moved again, throwing herself in front of Jace and Alec. She vaguely heard Jace shouting at her, but then it was abruptly cut off, and she knew that Alec had managed to disappear with Jace.

At least he was safe, she thought idly as a searing pain pierced her stomach.

 _Sooooo the first thing I want to say was that the P!nk concert was absolutely amazing! Holy shit, she was incredible. She spent more time up in the air than she did on the stage. It was also her birthday the night we went, so her daughter and hubby came out with a cake, and shit...The whole thing was just amazing._

 _I rewatched a couple of old movies when I was off work sick, some of my old favourites;_ Dinosaur, Matilda _and_ Stardust _. Honestly, I can never get tired of them. Animated movies are my go-to's when I'm sick or drained and just done with life. Haha. They're just the beeeest. I also really wanted to recommend_ Hannah Gandsby: Nanette _. It's a comedy special on Netflix and I really don't want to say much about it and give it away, but it is absolutely incredible, and not quite what you would expect? Watch iiiiiit._

 _Song wise, I'm super obsessed with_ Dynasty _by MIIA, and all the fandom videos on Youtube using that song. And_ High Hopes _by Panic! at the Disco. Everytime I hear that song, all I can see is Shawn Mendes appreciative look at Brendon Urie as he was performing it at the VMA's. Hahaha. Also_ High On Life _by Martin Garrix,_ Temporary Love _by Joey,_ 48 _by Moss Kena and_ The Getaway _by Hilary Duff. If you guys have any recommendations, send them through!_

 _I've also become re-obsessed with 5SOS. They were amazing in concert when I saw them a few years ago, but I hadn't been a massive fan then. I ammmm now! Luke Hemming in that damn glittery eyeliner. Shit! And maybe when he and Michael play each others guitars, I get intense heart eyes, I don't know..._

 _Oh, has anyone watched the newest season of_ Ozark _? I_ haven't _gotten around to it yet, not sure if it's as good as the first season? Also, we finally finished_ Banshee _. Haha. I know that it's a super old show, but we just have so many that we took ages to get through. But we finally did! God, it was brilliant. I absolutely adored Job and Sugar, and Siobhan just broke my heart. Overall, the show was great, and if you haven't seen it, please do!_

 _Oooh, oooh! And_ The Gifted _is back! Thunderblink is beautiful and I'm totally digging Andy's look. And_ SVU _!_

 _Oh—and is everyone else watching the new Shane Dawsons documentary? I don't really like the subject matter at all, dude's an ass, but I love him._

 _Omg. Okay. I'll stop here. God I hate these once monthly updates. Can't wait till my schedule is less busy. Anyway. Let me know what you thought of the chapter, and let me know if you want a preview xx_


	10. Chapter 10

_Okay, so...I had a really, really,_ really, really _shitty day. Not the worst I've had, not by far, I actually managed to get myself out of bed and somehow drove to work, although through anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, I don't remember much. So I had a horrible, horrible day, but then I came home and my husband had brought me roses, and chocolate, and my favourite lollies—and not_ just _my favourite lollies, but he went through all the packs at the shop to find the one with the most of the pineapple lollies, which are my_ favourite of the favourite _. Then we watched almost three hours of Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams videos, and fell more in love with Garrett Watts._

 _And now I feel a lot better. A_ hell _of a lot better._

 _So much better that I wanted to do something to make you guys happy as well :)_

 _Here's an update..._

"What the fuck, Alec?!" Jace shouted as they appeared back in his office. Jace was winded, but that didn't stop him from shouting the moment they were back on solid ground again.

"You're my priority, Jace," Alec snapped, although his words were strained. "You were the one I had to get out of there."

"You have to go back for Clary and the others—you have to get them out of there!" Even as he was insisting, and half tempted to throw Alec through the glass window and down the sixteen floors, he could see that the likelihood of Alec going back was low. Alec looked terrible, pale and shaking, blood dripping onto the carpet below them. Each jump that he made took a little bit out of him, and usually he could recover from it quickly, but given how drained he already was and that he was injured, if Alec actually managed to make it back to the street where the gunfight was happening, Jace wasn't sure if he would actually be able to make it out of there again, to the office.

"I called—" a portal appeared next to them, blue and shimmering, and a moment later, Max stepped through, his eyes wide as he looked as his siblings. "Max," Alec finished, clenching his hand into a fist, the blood now falling steadily onto the ground, red bleeding into the navy carpet.

"Okay," Jace heaved in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, closing his eyes and scrubbing a hand over his face. "Alec, you need to take Max back to where we were, he doesn't know where to teleport. But he can take the weight, bringing you back." Alec closed his eyes as he took in a few more breaths and then reached out for his brother.

"You sure you're okay to do this?" Max asked as he steadied his older brother, concern clear on his face as he looked over at Isabelle, who had been laid down on the leather couch in the corner of the room.

"I have to," Alec said through gritted teeth. "We need to get Clary and the others." Max squared his jaw and nodded. Alec could barely keep his eyes open and Jace felt guilty for how badly he needed his cousin right now. But while Max could create portals to transport himself and others, similar to how his brother could transport, in the same way, he could only teleport himself to places that he had already been or that were in his line of sight. Alec flickered, his body fading in and out a couple of times before both he and Max disappeared, leaving Jace in the room with an unconscious Isabelle.

" _Fuck_ ," Jace hissed as he tried not to think about the worst case scenario, even though that was where his mind automatically went. He walked quickly over to Isabelle, crouching down next to the couch and running his hands over her head, and then over her shoulder. Even in her unconscious state, she flinched as he touched her shoulder an he sighed. Jace wished that they had been better prepared and they had had in their comm devices tucked into their ears _before_ they had gotten into the car, so that they could have communicated better when the explosion had happened.

Not that that would help him now, though, since he would be out of range, back in his office.

He looked down at his watch and let out a frustrated shout as he got back to his feet and saw that only one, slow minute had actually passed by. He could his anger reaching out, stretching from his body and searching out any metal objects in the room. He felt something curling, loosing it's shape, but he didn't care enough to look in the direction of whatever he had just destroyed, as he snatched his phone out of his pocket, realizing that there was something that he could be doing right now, other than just standing in the middle of his office, absolutely helpless. Jace was about to make a call, when all of a sudden a portal opened in the room, and Max fell threw, supporting the weight of his brother.

"Wh—" Jace's eyes bounced between the two of them furiously. "Where's Clary?! Where are the others?!" Alec stumbled away from his brother, his face almost completely void of any colour and the blood falling steadily, spreading through the fabric of his shirt.

"She's lost a lot of blood," Max said, speaking quickly, his voice low.

" _What_?!" Jace cried.

"Something happened...It looks like she's been stabbed, in the stomach," Max answered, and there was a grinding crunch behind Jace. Max winced, and Jace didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that he had completely crumbled his office chair. "You know stomach wounds, boss...Those things are hard." Max bit down on his lip at the furious expression on Jace's face, before rushing on. "Raphael and Theo have her covered at the moment, but if I bring her here, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make another jump with her."

"I'm ringing Cat, I'm going to get her here as soon as possible," Jace was pleading now. "I need you to get her back here, and Cat will take care of her." Max nodded, his hand lifting, and a portal appearing a second later. He stepped through, and then he was gone. Jace lifted his phone to his ear, trying to slow down his breathing, and the rapid pace that his pulse was beating at.

Clary was hurt.

She was injured.

And it sounded bad.

That had happened on _his_ watch.

He was responsible for her.

He had _promised_ her that she would be safe, that he would protect her.

"These are my office hours," Catarina Loss answered the call, her words clipped, clearly annoyed. "The work that I do for you is _outside_ the hours of nine to five." It sounded as though she was going to hang up the phone, and Jace started talking quickly.

"No, Cat, I need you here. I need you here now," Jace tried to keep his voice level, but just like when he was talking to Max, he could tell that his urgency was bleeding through. "It's Clary, and Izzy, and Alec, and maybe more." Catarina was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment before answering.

"I can be there in twenty minutes," she replied. Jace wanted to argue with her, wanted to tell her that that wasn't soon enough, but he knew that she was just being realistic. He couldn't send Alec or Max to her, so it wasn't as though she could be there in a split second, she was going to have to drive over, and her clinic was in the middle of town.

"Okay," Jace said abruptly, pulling his phone away from his ear and throwing it near the table, a lot harder than he should have.

"Izzy..." Alec was trying to wake up his sister. "Izzy!"

"Alec, she's fine," Jace told him, jerking on Alec's good shoulder to turn him around so that he was sitting back down on the ground, facing him. "She's just knocked out, she's still breathing just fine." He hoped that he was right, but at the moment, they needed to focus on getting the bleeding to stop from Alec's shoulder. Catarina would be here soon, and she would be able to make sure that Isabelle was okay. "Come on, take off your shirt," Jace hissed at Alec as he grabbed at the velcro straps of the bullet-proof vest Alec was wearing. Alec groaned as Jace pulled his body forward, not particularly gently, so that he could jerk the vest over his head and throw it to the side.

"Fuck," Alec hissed through clenched teeth as Jace decided against trying to get Alec out of his shirt and just ripped it open instead, tearing off the sleeve and ripping at the neckline so that it was hanging off his torso. He should be calling Magnus, letting him know what was going on with his fiancée, but he needed to stop the bleeding first.

"Come on, Alec, we just need to get the bleeding stopped before Catarina gets here, then she can take care of the rest," Jace told Alec stiffly. Alec jerked his head in a nod, gritting his teeth together as Jace finally got to get a good look at the wound. It was deep, but thankfully not to the bone. The slash in his shoulder was going to create some problems, but hopefully nothing that some physiotherapy couldn't help with. Jace rose on his knees, pulling his belt out from the loops of his jeans and then leaned back toward Alec, looping it underneath Alec's shoulder and then sliding it through the buckle, tightening it, fashioning a tourniquet.

It felt as though time was going _so slowly_ , given when he looked back at the clock, only a few minutes had passed by. But his stomach was in knots, and his usually calm and steady demeanor was completely gone. Alec's breathing was coming out rapid and shallow, and his face was a sickly pale colour, his eyes closed as he leaned his head back against the arm of the chair.

"Alec," Jace's voice was shaking with barely controlled anger and definitely with a little bit of fear. "Alec, I need you to keep your eyes open." Alec's eyes opened again, gritting his teeth as he stubbornly tried to keep his eyes on Jace. Jace nodded at him, letting his friend take his hand and squeeze it tightly, to the point where it felt as though his bones were going to crunch. Jace raised himself onto his knees and stretched over Alec's head toward Isabelle's neck, pressing two fingers against her pulse point. It was fluttering, quickly, and while he was relieved that at least she was still breathing, he knew that both of them needed to be checked over, as quickly as possible.

There was an almost silent sounding 'whoosh', like wind sliding underneath a closed door, and then heavy breathing filled the room, along with a couple of pained noises. Jace spun around to see Max, Raphael, Theo and Clary. Max was standing there, with Clary held tightly in his arms, and Raphael and Theo behind him, one hand on a shoulder each, so that they were able to be transported with him through the portal he created in.

"Holy shit," Jace hissed, his breathing catching in his throat. Raphael rushed over to the couch, taking over from where Jace was holding Alec's hand, and reaching out to put one hand on Isabelle's face, cupping her cheek. Theo helped Max with Clary, the two moving quickly as they strode across the room to where the desk was. Not exactly the most comfortable of locations, but they needed her on something where she could be properly stretched out and on something sturdy.

She was unconscious and she was deathly pale.

And Max hadn't been lying when he said it looked as though she had been stabbed. His shirt was soaked right through with her blood, just from the short trip that they had taken from the street to Jace's office.

He couldn't feel her, in his head.

He could _always_ feel her—even when they were both fast asleep, just lightly wrapped around a piece of his mind, comforting and warm. Just _there_.

But there was nothing.

Her usually rosy cheeks were pale, and she looked tiny on the desk.

Jace's breathing was hitched, and there was the sound of shattering glass as every single metal object in the office was flung across the room, smashing through the glass that was separating his office from the rest of the buildings floor, the wall shattering across the carpet.

 _Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, or today is that day for a lot of you, the 10th._

 _Please be kind to each other, people have so much going on in their heads that just isn't obvious from the outside._

 _Much love xx_


	11. Chapter 11

_Hey guys :) So this is my last update of the year. I've got quite a lengthy A/N below, but in case you guys don't want to read my droning on and on, then I want to wish you guys a safe and a happy holidays and I will be back next year xxx_

 _Also, I have posted several new stories, including a werewolf one called_ Put Your Heart On Mine, _and a biker one,_ Wrong Side Of A Parallel Universe _. I definitely have my favourite AU's. Haha. So check those out :)_

"Is she going to be okay?" Jace was asking, getting in Catarina's way for the umpteenth time. She sent a glare in Jace's direction before her face completely transformed, utterly softening as she looked back down at Clary. "And what about Alec and Isabelle? They need to be looked at as well." Catarina didn't reply to Jace, and Raphael was now sitting on the couch next to Isabelle, patting her forehead with a damp cloth, just like the doctor had told her. "Cat, we need—"

"You keep crowding me, sweetheart, and I'm going to pop you on in the nose," Catarina snipped, not bothering to look back at Jace as she let out a heavy breath through her nose. She had one of her hands resting on Clary's shoulder as she examined her wound. She was a mutant, with the ability to take away other peoples pain. It came in handy, given her profession was as a doctor, running her own surgery in the middle of the city. "I'm going to need help," Catarina announced, finally turning around to look at Jace. "I can't tend to her by myself. She's going to need surgery," she looked over at Alec, whom she had reached out for when she had first arrived in the room, sucking his pain so that he was able to be a bit more lucid. "And he is possibly going to need surgery as well." The older womans shoulders were squared, her jaw set, as though she was expecting an argument from Jace.

And usually, she would be right. A surgery meant a hospital, or in the very least, her doctors clinic, and that meant taking his business out in public, which was the opposite of what he wanted to do. They had been to Catarina's private clinic quite a few times, but it was usually in the middle of the night, not in the afternoon when there would be patients that her other doctors were seeing, actual witnesses.

But Clary was hurt—badly—and so was Alec, both of them bleeding.

"We can teleport them wherever you need to go," Jace nodded over at Max.

"Teleport, in their condition?" Catarina mumbled, more to herself than to Jace, as though she was considering whether Clary and Alec would make it, teleporting again with their wounds. "Okay," she nodded. "I will let you teleport them to my surgery, the back room where we usually go," she said that to Max, who nodded. "But once they are all fixed up, then I insist that you use a stretcher to transport them, no more teleporting. It's not good for healing bodies."

"Okay," Jace nodded, looking over to Max. "What about Isabelle? Does she need to come with us? She hasn't woken up since we've been here."

"I'm not feeling any pain from her," Catarina replied. When she had come into the room and drained Alec's pain, she had also reached out for Isabelle and touched her shoulder. "She was knocked unconscious, judging by the lump on her head, nothing more." Her upper lip curled as she looked over at Theo, who was standing beside the wooden door of the office...The wooden door that no longer really served any purpose, given the glass walls on either side of it had been completely shattered. He was holding a machine gun in his hands, clenching his fingers tightly around the grip. " _That_ can't come."

"Boss," Raphael began, not looking happy at that as he got up from where he had been sitting beside Isabelle. "We need to make sure—"

"It's okay," Jace waved a hand at Raphael. "You're going to stay here with Isabelle, until she wakes up." With Catarina there, he was feeling a little bit calmer, although he could feel how quickly Clary's pulse was thudding, his fingers wrapped around her slim wrist. "Theo," Jace could sense a pistol strapped to his leg, in an ankle holster, underneath his pants, and then another one hidden at his lower back, the metal vibrating at his angry touch. "Leave that gun here." Theo narrowed his eyes at Jace, but he flicked the safety on and rested the machine gun down on a nearby leather arm chair, that had several shards of glass sticking out of it.

"We make one jump," Catarina said. "So you need to get up," she pointed her finger at Alec, who set his jaw and managed to get to his feet, with help from his younger brother. "And when I get there, I'm going to have my nurse help us." Jace wanted to argue, but there was so much blood pooling underneath Clary's body, there just wasn't time. Max and Alec hobbled over to them, and Max gripped Jace's shoulder. Jace, in turn, put his arms carefully underneath Clary's frail body, picking her up carefully, feeling a pain in his chest when she made a little groan. Catarina tutted under her breath, still not happy about being anywhere near this whole situation, but she rested her hand on Clary's arm, sucking more of the pain from the unconscious girl. Theo stepped forward, his limp barely perceptible, resting a heavy hand on Max's shoulder and the young boy nodded.

A portal appeared, triggered by a flicker of Max's fingers, and he stepped forward, sucking all six people through the portal with him.

When the ground was steady underneath them again, they were in the bright room of Catarina's room. It seemed a bit strange, to be here when it was light outside, and when there was noise on the other side of the closed door, since they were usually here at night when it was empty, but they didn't have much time to think about it.

"Okay, on the table," Catarina ordered, pointing at Clary. "And you, on the chair," she pointed at Alec. Catarina glanced between the two injured people, before taking in a deep breath and walking over to her door, opening it up and carefully positioning her body in the way of the door so that no one would see the group of people inside. "Malcolm," her voice was low but tight. "I need you in here."

"Yeah, I was just going to go on my break—" the younger man outside seemed to begin.

"Inside," Catarina snipped, and Jace gritted his teeth together, wondering how much time his friend and lover had before this was going to be dangerous. Alec's bleeding had stopped, and he didn't look as bad as he did before. Clary, on the other hand...Jace pressed his lips together as the man came into the room. His hair was completely white, and his eyes were purplish, and Jace immediately knew that he was a mutant, although he had no idea which kind. "We can't go to a hospital, I need you to tell me what's wrong with her, and then I need you to fix him up," she jerked her head at Alec, in the corner of the room.

It turned out that Malcolm Fade's mutation was he could see through the layers of skin, an to the organs and bones beneath. He began spouting off medical jargon that Jace didn't fully understand, although he did catch that there was apparently something still embedded inside Clary. Theo moved to stand next to the door, his feet spread apart and his hands braced at his sides, clenched into fists, clearly ready to jump into action if the situation called for it. Max was standing beside his brother, and he was standing in a similar stance to Theo, a gun pressed against his hip, hidden beneath the jacket and bullet-proof vest that he was wearing.

Jace refused to leave Clary's side.

He let himself be moved a little, as Catarina wheeled the gurney a little closer to the wall so that she could pull the flimsy curtain to give them at least a hint of privacy, but then he settled above her head, fingers curled into the cheap mattress and white sheet, his eyes narrowed and watching every single move that the doctor made. His breaths were coming out short and his lips were pressed together, completely drained of colour. Catarina worked quickly to undress Clary from the waist up, using a pair of scissors to cut through her shirt, carefully undoing the bullet-proof vest and then cutting her bra so that she could work unhindered over her the wound in her stomach.

Catarina worked for hours. Malcolm helped her as well, once he had finished stitching up Alec, and after he had had a look at Theo's leg, and Jace knew that ideally they would be in a hospital right now. If Catarina absolutely _needed_ to take her to the hospital, she would tell Jace, and he wouldn't hesitate to have Max take them there. But that would bring up a whole lot of unnecessary questions and attention, and so if Catarina was able to look after Clary here, then that was preferable.

Catarina used to work as a surgeon, until she had an accident, injuring her dominant hand. She was still an incredible surgeon, and Jace trusted her with his life, and the life of his men time and time again, but she no longer worked at the same level that she used to, which was why she was now a general practitioner.

"Alright," Catarina let out a long sigh after nearly four hours. "I don't want any of you moving her just yet," she looked around at the men in the room, a sharp expression on her face despite how drained she looked. "She's steadier now, but she's not out of the woods yet. We'll give her a few more hours, and I'll see how she's doing then, and then we'll talk about you moving her." Malcolm was standing quiet beside the gurney where Clary was still unconscious, his eyes wide as he took in her bloody clothes and the stained sheet beneath her. Jace wasn't particularly happy with bringing in an extra person in, especially a person that he hadn't vetted extensively, which is what he did for every other person that he brought into his operation. But money spoke volumes, and if that didn't work, Theo would be more than happy to find something that the man cared about and use it to their advantage.

"Thank you," Jace said in a clipped tone, walking over to the door that lead directly outside to the small, private car park specifically for the doctors and nurses who worked at the clinic. It was well outside of the clinic's work hours now, and the building was empty, so there was only two cars in the lot now, he assumed belonging to Catarina and her nurse. He took in a deep breath, but he could still smell blood, given it was soaked through his clothes. After a moment, he summoned the disposable cellphone that Max had passed him an hour ago, and dialed a number that he knew off by heart.

"Carstairs," came an answer after only two rings.

"It's me," Jace snapped into the phone, glancing around and ensuring that there was no one in the small car park, even though it had been empty a minute ago. "Have you got anything for me?"

"Hold on, mum, let me get somewhere a bit quieter," Jem Carstairs replied, and Jace waited, unsurprising at the response. Jem was a cop—and a good one at that—but he had a sickly mother who needed expensive treatments, and so sometimes he did some work for Jace on the side. "Okay, yeah, so," Jem sounded as though he was somewhere small and enclosed, given the slight echoing. "The guy who was responsible for killing a bunch of people at the anti-mutant rally, right? That's what I've been looking into."

"Yup."

"Look, I haven't got anything at the moment, but we've been pretty busy today," Jem said quietly. "You wouldn't know anything about a gun fight that broke out on the outskirts of the city, would you? Couple of cars were completely destroyed and buildings crumbling apart?"

"Wouldn't have a clue," Jace responded without missing a beat.

"Right," Jem didn't sound as though he totally believed Jace, but he knew there was no point in pushing it. "Okay, well, I will get onto it, tonight. It was him, right? Sebastian? The same one from the anti-mutant rally?"

"Yes," Jace stated, his teeth gritted together. "Sebastian Verlac."

 _So usually this is the point where I tell you guys some movies and songs that I'm super into. Since this is my last post, I had some other things I wanted to say. But I did see the new_ Halloween _movie, and_ The House With A Clock In Its Walls _and_ Venom _, and they were all good, although Venom was a bit of a let down. Also, anyone else a GallaVich supporter? I stopped watching_ Shameless _a few seasons ago, when it started spiraling, but holy shit, tumblr when crazy with the reunion, and that totally made my day. It was amaaaazing. These two boys deserve each other, and I'm so glad they got a very...fitting send off :)_

 _Right, well..._

 _This year has been hard. I feel this year has been bad for everyone. There have been the numerous mass shootings, it feels as though there is just one natural disaster after another and there is the continual, completely legitimate distrust of authorities who are meant to be the ones protecting us. There are so many things that I could write in here and specifically comment on, but I don't want to make this a political statement, just a statement that wherever we are in the world, we are all struggling. There are so many people struggling at the moment, but today, my heart goes out to the people of Brazil, all people in the Jewish community and to the beautiful LGBTQA members of the world, especially the transgender community, and specifically those in America._

 _There have been good things as well, though! The rescue of the boys in Thailand, the proud, unapologetic statement that Colin Kaepernick's Nike campaign made, the decriminalization of homosexuality in India, the incredible organisation and unity in the March For Our Lives and the utter love and support shown by so many people in this world toward one another. This was just demonstrated yet again in the past few days with the non profit Muslim organisations who set up the online funding for those in the Jewish community affected by this one of the most recent horrific attacks._

 _This year has also been hard for myself personally, as I'm sure some of you are aware from my posts. My mental health is probably the worst it's ever been, I'm dealing with some relationship issues with my husband, I lost the friendship of someone that I considered very close after a betrayal that left me spinning and over the past few months, it's been the one year anniversary of the deaths of three people, who all died within a month of each other. I consider myself pretty open with you guys about my problems, and a big reason for that is because I know how lonely this huge world can feel sometimes. I just hope that with me putting myself out there, if you guys are dealing with something similar, then hopefully you know you're not alone. While I don't always have the best words, if any of you ever want to PM me just to get things off your chest, I'm here. I don't always know what to say, but sometimes just putting your problems into words can help, and I am more than happy to be that person for any of you xx_

 _Alright._

 _Well._

 _That was all very intense, but I felt it was necessary. I'm sorry if it felt as though I was crossing a line with any of it, but that's why I said at the top that if you didn't want to read all of this, just read by first authors note!_

 _Anyway._

 _I hope every single one of you has a safe and incredible and happy holidays with the people you love the most, and I will be back next year, probably early February. Here's to a better next year xx_


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, my beautiful, wonderful readers! It's early February, so as promised, here's an update! I hope you guys have had an amazing past few months, and I hope you're still interested in these stories! Just a quick heads up that I've uploaded some oneshots, and I do still have a couple to post, but I had so many requests to update my multi-chapters, so I thought I would update these before continuing with my editing, so there are some more to come!**

 **Anyway, here we go...**

The first thing that Clary was aware of when her eyelids began fluttering was how bright it was. Her eyelids felt incredibly heavy and it took a few minutes of concentration to actually get her eyes open, and then she closed them straight away, because the sun was _so incredibly bright_ that it actually felt like there was a stab of pain going through her brain.

The second thing that Clary became aware of was the pain in her abdomen.

" _Oh, shit_ ," Clary groaned, forcing herself to open her eyes and looked around slowly, her hand gingerly reaching to her stomach. There were bandages wrapped right around her torso, and when she took in a sharp breath, there was an ache beneath her ribs. Clary breathed in shallowly and reached out with her mind. She had no idea where she was, but the place felt comfortable, and she could sense familiar presences around her. Max was nearby, probably just outside the door of the room she was in, and he was tense. She skimmed over his mind, and instantly realized that _she_ was the cause of his tension. He was worried about her, apparently she had been out for a while, seemed like at least a whole day, and then she got glimpses of her lying on a doctors bed with blood surrounding her, and Jace's worried face as he sat beside her. It was going to hurt to try and call out to him, so she didn't even bother, tapping into his thoughts. _I'm awake, Max_ , she whispered in his ear.

"Clary?!" Max reacted instantly, slamming open the door with a crash as he came into the room, almost tripping over his feet. Despite the pain radiating through her body, she smiled as the younger boy appeared at her side. He practically fell down on the ground beside the bed, reaching out for her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Clary said, her voice quiet and raspy.

"I'm going to call Jace, and he's going to be here soon," Max assured her. Clary managed a jerky nod as Max—still kneeling beside the bed—pulled out his phone and speed dialed his boss. Even if Clary couldn't read minds and follow the whole conversation from what was running through, she could hear Jace's voice through the phone, clear and loud.

He was going to be there in a couple of minutes, he was going to have Alec teleport him there, so she was guessing that Alec must be feeling better. Max ended the call and tucked his phone away, focusing his attention back on Clary. She could already feel him relaxing, relieved that she was okay, and he grabbed her hand again, squeezing it. She didn't like Max worrying, given the kid was about the age of her youngest students, and he already had so much on his shoulders in this life that he had with Jace.

"Where are we?" Clary asked, her voice still quiet. "We're not at mine, or Jace's."

"It's one of his safe houses," Max told her. "Jace wanted to get you out of the city, make sure that you were somewhere safe. We brought some of yours and Jace's things here."

"Thanks," Clary said quietly. "Um, do we have anything? Like, any medication I can take? My head is killing me."

"Yeah, you hit the ground pretty hard, back out when, you know," Max made a face and waved his hand in his general stomach direction, obviously indicated when she had been stabbed. Or pierced. Or whatever it was that had happened. "You've got a pretty big bump on the back of your head, and you were also teleported a couple of times while you were still weak, so that would have drained a lot out of you."

"Wait," Clary's eyes flew wide and she tried to sit up in shock, letting out a cry of pain as she did so. Worry was etched all over Max's face as he sat down on the bed beside her, looping an arm around her waist gingerly, to give her some support. "What day is it? How long have I been out?!"

"It's been three days," Max told her.

" _Three days_?!" Clary cried out, once again seeming to forget her condition as she jerked forward in surprise. "My classes!"

"It's okay, I called in," Max reassured her, shifting around and trying to coax her into relaxing back down, to lay down in the bed and get her comfortable again before Jace showed up. "I said that you were involved in a car accident—which is definitely true—just maybe twisted the truth a little. Now, can you just chill out a bit? Seriously, you've been through a lot and Jace is gonna be pissed off if he shows up and you're hurting yourself."

"But—"

"And you know he's going to take it out on me, not you," Max pressed, feeling a little bad that he was playing on his injured friend emotions, but knowing that at least it would work. Clary sighed, letting her eyes close again and rest back on the pillow. It was only a moment later that Clary felt the presence of Jace and Alec just in the next room. Max heard them arrive and he got off the bed. "I'll be back in a sec," he told her. Clary took in a couple of deep breaths, trying to settle the pounding in her head and lay in such a way that didn't put any strain on her stomach.

 _Clary_ , she heard Jace murmur gently into her mind. _I'll be there in a minute_. Clary felt her body relax even more as she felt Jace's presence. She could reach out and listen in on everything that Jace, Max and Alec were saying, but she already felt strained just from being awake for the short while, so she let her mind settle down as he waited for him to come in and see her.

"Clary," Jace said quietly as he came into the bedroom, immediately noticing the sun that was streaming in through the windows and directly onto her face. He closed the curtain and then came over to where she was laying, sitting down gently on the mattress beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh," Clary winced as she opened her eyes again. "Not great."

"Catarina worked on you for a while, and she had to get out the diamond that was embedded in you," Jace told her, leaning forward and running two fingers over her forehead, tucking her hair behind her ear. His touch was cool against her warm skin, and it was comforting, and Clary tipped her head to the side to rest against his hand before her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Diamond?" She questioned.

"That's what you were hit with," Jace continued grimly. "That woman? The one that appeared out of nowhere?"

"Yeah, her whole body looked as though it was made of glass," Clary remembered back to the afternoon in the industrial side of the city. She winced at the memory. "And I couldn't read her mind—I didn't know that she was approaching us through the fire fight until she was right there in front of us."

"Yeah, so it wasn't glass, it was diamond," Jace told her. "We looked into the shards after..." he pursed his lips together, gritting his teeth before continuing. "After they were pulled out of you." Clary could feel the anger radiating off him, she could see how clouded his mind was right now; he was definitely physically with her there in the room, but mentally, his mind was elsewhere, busy thinking about all the leads that they had been following up in the past couple of days, trying to find out what it was that had attacked them. "When we spoke with Catarina, she said that she thought that maybe the reason you couldn't read her mind was because she turned completely into diamond, somehow that blocked out your telepathy."

"I suppose so," Clary winced. "Not much point in having a telepath around who can't read minds."

"I keep you around for a lot more than that," Jace muttered, frowning slightly.

"I know," Clary gave him a small smile, feeling a twinge of upset in Jace's mind at her comment and wanting to reassure him. She pursed her lips together before shifting from emotional to logical. "What is my recovery time? I have classes, and I can't just stay here and do nothing."

"You are not rushing off anywhere," Jace said firmly. "You're going to be in recovery for some time, and once Cat clears you, then you're going to be off to physiotherapy." Clary's eyes widened in horror.

"I can't take that much time off work!"

" _Yes_ , you can," Jace told her, a steeled expression taking over his face, one that Clary had seen on countless occasions when he was talking business with one of his many clients, and it meant that he had completely made up his mind. "We've covered things at least temporarily, until you're okay enough to call them yourself. Cat will write you a hospital note and explain what had happened if any of your bosses have an issue. I'm sure they won't though. We told them you were in a car accident, and that you were badly hurt. Your TA is covering your classes at the moment. Your friend, Simon, though, he needed a bit more convincing..." Clary picked up on a flash of Simon speaking with Jace, actually face to face rather than just over the phone, which surprised her.

"He came here?" She asked.

"Yup," Jace let out an exasperated sigh. "We left a number for you to be contacted back on if they had any questions, and it wasn't your boss that rang, it was Simon, who rang about twenty times. He said that he was listed as your next of kin and if you were in hospital, he would have been notified. If we didn't let him come and see you, then he was going to make a big fuss." Jace looked annoyed, but even in her injured state, Clary couldn't help but smile a little.

"Typical Simon," she murmured.

"Yeah. We let him come here, see you, and Alec was here as well, who he recognized from when he picking you up a while ago," Jace continued. "He seemed a bit more comfortable then, but he wants you to call as soon as you're up to it."

"I'll do it soon," Clary nodded slowly, her head still thrumming. She found his fingers, tightening her own around them.

Jace was angry.

He was angry and upset and he was barely keeping it together. Even if she couldn't read minds, she would know that. Clary tried to search through his mind to when the last time he slept was, but sleep was the last thing on his mind. She sighed, wanting to tell him that he needed to look after himself, but she wasn't going to speak out while his colleagues and friends were nearby.

"You hungry?" Jace asked.

"Yeah," Clary was surprised by just _how hungry_ she was.

"I'll get you some food. You rest, okay?" He reached forward to press a soft kiss to her lips.

"I will."

 **Right! So, here's the super, super long A/N—sorry! I had a great Christmas and New Years time, not really doing much, just spending time at the beach and with my husband and with some of best friends. This year has started well, there's been a few bad days, but hey, happens to everyone. I hope your year has started just as good, and you spent it with family and friends if that's what you prefer, and that you spent it alone and quiet if that's what you prefer.**

 **I wanted to say that I managed to get around to most of peoples oneshots, at least the ones that struck a chord with me because some of prompts just aren't the type that I can write, and I had fun with the ones I wrote! You can still send me prompts or requests through the year, and I try and get to them near the end of the year when I focus on oneshots. Can be in a huge variety of fandoms, just ask me :)**

 **On with the recommendations!**

 **TV Shows: _Roswell: New Mexico_. Well. I loooved the original series, even if I can see a lot of flaws in it when watching it now back to when I was a teenager. I'm enjoying the reboot so far, I really like the change up in Liz, and Michael's relationship with Alex. I love that Tyler Blackburn from Pretty Little Liars is in it, and Michael Trevino from Vampire Diaries, because he was one of my favourite characters from VD. Anyway. Fingers crossed it goes well. And I intensely ship Max/Liz already, and not because I know they're supposed to get together, but because I love their chemistry, which is more than the original series, at least for my side. Oh and _The Runaways_ Season 2! I liked Gert a lot more in this one. Ooh, and _Sex Education_. That show is absolutely brilliant. Like, insanely brilliant. I'm so glad it's been renewed for another season. I also started watching _The Following_ for the hundredth time because this show is amazing.**

 **Music: _6 Figures_ by Kings, _Run Away With Me_ by Carly Rae Jepsen, _Old News_ by Mitch James, _Wasted_ by Jesse McCartney and _Bad_! by XXXTENTACION. Ooh, and _Saturday Nights_ by Khalid, _Bury A Friend_ by Billie Eilish and _Wild Enough_ by Elina.**

 **Movies: _Tomb Raider_ , which I watched for the second time the other week and I quite enjoyed it, a lot more than the first time I watched it. Alicia Vikander is a babe. Also _How To Train Your Dragon 3_. Holy shit. I knew this one was going to get me in the feels, but I didn't expect to cry twice. It was beautiful. Also the new _Robin Hood._ Maybe I'm biased because I love Taron Egerton, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as what the reviews said. I know it wasn't great, but I still enjoyed it, and Marian was a badass.**

 **Now, I've got some questions! Thought I'd change things up a little this year.**

 **So; what is your favourite song right now? Mine would be a tie between _Run Away With Me_ by Carley Rae Jepsen and _Back To Life_ by Hailee Steinfield.**

 **What is...Your favourite movie that you've seen recently? Mine would be _Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse_.**

 **Aaaand what is your favourite fandom to read in? For me it would be a tie between the DC fandom and _Harry Potter_ right now, although it changes frequently.**

 **Talk to me, let me know what you thought and answer the questions if you feel inclined to!**


	13. Chapter 13

When Clary woke up again, it was night time. The blinds were closed, but she could still see glimpses of darkness through the gaps. Her stomach rumbled loudly the minute she became conscious, and she remembered the last time that she had woken up, she had been hungry then. She took in a deep breath, tilting her head from side to side, wincing a little at the throbbing still at the back of her head, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been earlier. The pain in her stomach also wasn't as bad, and she wondered if Catarina Loss—the doctor that Jace had on call—had maybe paid a visit. She had a very helpful mutation, of being able to drain pain, and Clary definitely wondered if she had been by and take some of her pain.

She sat up slowly, wincing a little at the pain in her stomach, given it was still present, just not as bad as it was before. Her throat was dry, and she was thankful to see a glass of water on the bedside table, next to a brown bottle of pills with her name printed on a label around it. She picked up the cup and emptied almost the whole thing.

Clary reached out with her mind, and she was slightly surprised to find only Jace in the house. Part of her expected that he would have kept one of his men around, but then as she stretched out further with her mind, she realized that Will was nearby, in the garage out the front of the house.

 _Come to bed_ , Clary whispered in Jace's mind, and she felt him responding almost immediately. Jace came into the bedroom, looking drained and exhausted, but he smiled at her, and clearly he didn't want her to worry.

"Hey," Jace murmured as he came over to stand beside the bed. "Did you want something to eat? You were hungry when you woke up last time, and now it's almost eight."

"Fucking starving," Clary said with a nod.

"I'll heat you something up, we went out and got food earlier and then just put it in the fridge," Jace told her.

"Have _you_ eaten?" Clary asked quietly, but pointedly.

"Yeah, I had something for breakfast," Jace responded, but then he hesitated, and Clary stared at him. _Yes_ , he did have something for breakfast, but that was _yesterday_. He seemed to realize that as well, because he sighed as he walked out of the room. She heard him moving around in what she assumed was the kitchen, although she was still didn't know where they were—she didn't even know what part of the city they were in. When Jace came back, he had reheated Chinese food, which was never as good the second time around, but it would do for now. It was from a Chinese place that was near her home, so if she was with anyone else, then she could assume that they weren't too far away from her part of the city, but with two teleporters on call, it really didn't mean anything.

"You make sure you eat as well," Clary prompted as he put it down in front of her, despite how meticulous he was with no eating in bed. Jace didn't argue with her, first making sure that she was comfortable with pillows plumped up behind her, and then sliding in alongside her, pulling the covers over his lap. They ate without talking, although it definitely wasn't in silence, because Clary was making all kinds of slurping and moaning noises, feeling as though she hadn't eaten in a month.

Once they had finished, Jace's OCD kicked in, and he quickly took their dishes back out the bedroom, picking up any crumbs that they had left behind and pointedly handing a damp cloth over to Clary to wipe her hands. She rolled her eyes but obliged with a small smile on her face, carefully reaching out to him to take the cloth and trying to hide the wince of pain at the movement.

"Here," Jace fussed over her, helping her wiggle back under the duvet and pulling it up around her, careful not to touch her middle. At least her head wasn't throbbing as much as it was before, probably the pills that she had taken before she fell asleep kicking in. "You need to be careful. You have stitches in your stomach and you don't want to tear any of them. The knot on the back of your head has gone down, you got hit pretty badly when you fell onto the concrete after she attacked you." There was tension creeping back through his body and tensing his jaw, and Clary circled her hand around his wrist, trying to soothe him.

"You said Simon came by?" She asked, changing the subject, rubbing her thumb over the inside of his wrist. Jace shrugged a shoulder, and in that moment, she caught a glimpse of something else, something that she hadn't seen when they had had company earlier.

Hurt.

One of the main reasons why Simon had demanded to come and see her had been because he had no idea who Jace was, or why he was calling in on Clary's behalf. Of course, he knew that she was seeing someone, but other than a glimpse of Alec in the cafe the other day, he had no idea what Jace looked like, or even his name. Jace knew that she was private about their relationship—both working _and_ personal—but he also knew that Simon was her best friend, and he was hurt that she hadn't spoken about him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't keep you a secret because I wanted to hurt you. I did it to keep him safe."

"I know," Jace responded, giving her a small smile, and she could read in his mind that he _did_ know that, but it didn't mean it hadn't made his heart twinge. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead before moving away from her. He undressed quickly, laying his shirt, and then his pants over a chair in the corner of the room, and pulling off his socks and folding them together carefully, putting them on the chair as well, before coming over to the bed. It was just a simple flick of his finger and the light switch turned off, given all the metal that rimmed the appliances. He was careful as he got into bed beside her, and slid an arm underneath her head. Clary wanted to shuffle closer and curl against his side, but it was best to lay on her back right now and not move, so she stayed where she was.

"How long did you tell them before I would be back at work?" Clary asked quietly. "A week or so?" Jace actually _laughed_ at that, and then immediately apologized because his body jolting meant that Clary also shifted unexpectedly and she let out a hiss.

"No, babe," Jace told her with a shake of his head that she could feel in the dark. "It's going to be weeks, maybe a couple of months before you're back to normal totally."

" _What_?!" Clary snapped, twisting her head to the side, ignoring the sharp pain in her abdomen.

"You were out for a while, Clary," Jace told her softly, and he twisted the arm that was underneath her, so that he could brush his thumb against her bicep softly. "The wound is deep—the drugs that Catarina gave you, and the sedative that she used with her powers—are covering up a lot of the pain. It's going to take you a long time to heal. And you're going to need physio as well to make sure everything gets back to normal for you, that your body heals right."

"I can't be off work for _months_ , I've got students who rely on me!" Clary exclaimed.

"Well, I don't care about your students," Jace stated, maybe a little too bluntly. "I care about you, and you getting better," he paused and took in a deep breath. "And it's not just about you getting better, it's about keeping you safe as well. The person, or people, who did this, are still out there. And I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know that you will be okay."

"So I'm supposed to stay in this—in this house?" Clary frowned at him. "I don't even know where we are—I can't just stay here, I'll get so bored I'll go out of my mind."

"This is a safe house, and that's exactly what it's going to keep you," Jace told her. "And at least until you're able to walk around properly, I don't want you leaving here—and even after you're walking, I'm not letting you just roam around without someone there to protect you." Clary pursed her lips together, preparing herself to argue, but then she saw a flash from Jace of him literally bending all of the metal handles and window frames to keep her safe inside if she threatened to leave. She rolled her eyes and let out a heavy breath through her nose.

"You're not going to need to do anything _that_ drastic," she muttered, and Jace let out a short laugh under his breath. They fell into silence for a few minutes, both of them breathing steadily, filling the room. Clary wasn't too sure where they were, because there wasn't the usual buzz of the city around them, and although she hadn't looked out the windows to see what was in around them, from what she could gather from the images she had glimpsed in the others minds, she could guess that they were in a single storey home, and that they were on the edge of the city.

When people got tired, the emotions and the feelings that they had been bottling up throughout the day began to release. Even though it was easy for her to card through people's memories and thoughts through the day, night time was easier, and sometimes that made it harder for Clary. It definitely made it harder for her before she was with Jace, and she was bouncing from one relationship to another. It was very difficult to stay aroused when she was sleeping with a guy she had met at a bar was thinking about his ex-girlfriend who had broken up with him just a few days before.

But with Jace, it was nice.

While he was usually guarded, despite the fact that he would let her in, at night, he let those shields down. Slowly, one at a time.

And Clary enjoyed the warm, loving feelings that would wash over her body. He was open about the way he felt about her, although he wasn't too good with putting all those emotions and feelings into words. At night, those feelings were more honest.

Unfortunately, they weren't all good feelings today.

There was guilt in there as well, and that made her upset, because Jace already carried so much of the world on his shoulders, she didn't want to be just another worry that he carried. Clary rested her hand on his stomach, the pads of her fingers gently smoothing over his toned abdominals, trying to smother those feelings with the love and appreciation that she felt.

"It wasn't your fault," Clary whispered softly into the dark room. Jace didn't reply, but his arm tightened around hers. She knew he didn't believe her, and she twisted her head to kiss him softly, hoping that one day he would.

 **I've written this about four times now, and I'm just going to keep it simple.**

 **On the 15th of March 2019, there was a terrorist attack in my beautiful country, New Zealand. This is the first ever mass shooting on this level during peace time in the beautiful islands that I have spent my whole life in.**

 **This doesn't happen here. We don't have mass shootings. We don't have a fear of one another to the point where it drums up anger that turns to hate.** **In the words of our absolutely incredible Prime Minister, " _They are us_."**

 **We are all one people, and we can't let hate win.**

 **I hope you all spend time with people that you love and cherish, and I hope you never hold back to show this.**

 **Arohanui and Kia Kaha x**


	14. Chapter 14

A couple of weeks went by, and Clary was trying not to go out of her mind with boredom and annoyance. She was still in pain, and still couldn't walk around without a hunch and clinging onto walls and furniture to help support her weight, and Catarina kept insisting that she should be on bed rest until her body was ready for her to go into physical therapy. The diamond that had been buried into her abdomen had gone deep, and it was going to take a long time to heal. She kept being told, over and over again, she was lucky that it hadn't hit any vital organs and kill her. She was _trying_ to be grateful for this, but being trapped inside a house wasn't making her feel very grateful for anything.

Perhaps the fact that Jace and his little posse wouldn't leave her alone were also making her go insane.

She completely understood that they were worried about her, and they just wanted to make sure that she was okay, but she hadn't been outside in three weeks, and she had barely been alone for more than two minutes when she was awake.

She was ready to scream.

She also still didn't totally know what had happened the day that they had been attacked because everyone seemed to be on lock down when it came to speaking about that with her. Clary didn't doubt for a second that it was because Jace had given them strict orders _not_ to tell her anything, and that pissed her off, because she _wasn't_ breakable. Maybe she was a bit more fragile, and not quite as skilled as Jace and the rest of his colleagues, but that didn't mean she couldn't bounce back.

Jem had stopped by a few times, twice when he was on duty, and his badge was strapped to his hip, and once when he wasn't, and he would always check on Clary, but then he would disappear into a room with Jace and Alec, and close the door firmly. And then there was Judge Jeremiah Brother, yet another government official who was in Jace's pocket, and while he hadn't stopped by, Clary had walked in on Jace and Isabelle skyping with him the other week. Jem was helping them with the police investigation side of things, trying to find out any more information while keeping anyone else off their trail. Judge Jeremiah was making sure he blocked any search warrants that came his way that related to Jace or any of his related entities, which had cropped up because of the cars at the accident site being registered under their name.

"Jace?" Clary asked from the couch where she had been camped out since Max had helped her there a few hours ago.

"Yeah?" Jace looked up from his laptop which was on the small kitchen table that was tucked to the side of the lounge. He rubbed a hand over his face, and there were frown lines between his eyes, and Clary knew for a fact that he hadn't been sleeping well, given how much tossing and turning he had been doing when they were in bed.

"Who's Sebastian?" She asked softly, picking up the remote and muting the TV. She wanted to turn around and face Jace, but that would mean moving, and she was still trying to do that as much as possible.

"Sebastian..." Jace took in a deep breath, and she wondered if he was going to dodge the question, but he seemed to make up his mind. He closed his laptop and came over to the couch. He was careful as he sat down beside her, lifting up the throw blanket that Clary had spread over her legs. "Sebastian is my half brother." Clary blinked in surprise.

She had never glimpsed a brother in Jace's thoughts before.

She knew that he didn't have the best family history, and so it wasn't something that she ever searched for in his mind out of respect, but she had caught traces of his mother and father over the time she had been with him. Never a _brother_ , though.

"Sebastian is my half brother," Jace repeated after a few moments, and Clary wondered if this would be easier for him if she reached out and touched him, and looked through his memory to search for the story, rather than making him put it into words. But she preferred that he actually _tell_ her, rather than expecting her to look into his mind, and Jace knew that, and while it looked as though it pained her, he continued speaking. "My father was married before my mum, and he had a kid. He left them when Sebastian was about two or three, and that was when he met mum and had me."

"Did Sebastian have the mutant gene?" Clary asked softly as she took his hand, linking their fingers together, making sure to keep herself shut off from Jace's thoughts, not wanting to take more than he was willing to give her.

"Yes," Jace nodded. "My father wasn't a mutant, it seemed to have skipped a generation, because then both Sebastian and myself had the mutant gene. I don't know too many details of his mutation, but I believe he is telekenetic, I guess similar to me."

"To call your mutation 'telekenisis', is selling yourself short," Clary murmured. Jace gave her a small smile at her gentle compliment before continuing.

"None of this I knew until I was a teenager, after my mum died," he disclosed to her. "I didn't even know about Sebastian until after my father's death, at the funeral. Sebastian was there, and he was angry—furious, actually. He was skinny, and he had bruises on his arm, which I saw after he took his jacket off at one point. He cornered me, which wasn't particularly hard, because I was a thirteen year old kid and he was about sixteen or seventeen," a shadow of guilt skimmed over his face and he pursed his lips. "He blamed me, for our father blocking him out. Apparently for a few years after my father got together with mum, he kept on visiting Sebastian and his mother, and supporting them. After I was born, he stopped going around, and he only provided minimal financial support, which was an asshole thing to do, given how much money he had. Sebastian's mother wasn't a mutant, and she didn't have any family for support, other than our father. So when he stopped, she couldn't cope with having a child to raise on her own, muchless a mutant child. He went into foster care, bounced around a bunch of places, apparently didn't really fit in anywhere."

"Is that where his bruises were from?" Clary asked with a frown. She had never had any friends who had been in foster care, but some of her students had been in the system, and it never sounded as though it worked as well as it was meant to.

"I'm not sure," Jace shrugged a shoulder. "It could have been, but as I got older and I had more rescources, I looked into him, and he got into a lot of fights, had his own gang when he was in high school, seemed to always fall into a bad group. He never really had anyone help him learn to control his powers, so he had a lot of...Incidents as he was growing up, which got him into a lot of trouble. At the funeral, he pretty much just wanted to rip into me, tell me that I took everything that he was entitled to away from him. I didn't get it so much at the time, and I hated my father, so I didn't see it as a bad thing that he got to grow up without him around. Plus, I was a kid, I just brushed it off. My father's estate manager had a small portion left to Sebastian and his mother, and he gave them that, but everything else was left in a trust for me when I became of age. A lot of money I earnt on my own, I was lucky in the sense that I had a good schooling, which set me on priviledged path, and you know that I started by security business quite young—" Clary nodded at that. "—So by the time I came into my inheritence, I thought that maybe I should offer some to Sebastian and his mother."

"That was nice of you," Clary murmured.

"So I looked him up again. His mother had died, she had become a drunk and she had walked in front of a train years before then," Jace winced and Clary made a sympathetic noise at the back of her throat. "And Sebastian...Well, Sebastian had definitely learnt how powerful his mutation was, and not in a good way. He was dangerous, and he had no problem with killing innocents. A couple of years ago, he killed over forty people at an anti-mutant rally and then also killed the police who arrived on scene to arrest him. He's been cropping off all over the country, and trouble follows him wherever he goes, people die. He believes that mutants are better than humans, and he has no problem with killing those who disagree with him."

"That's horrible," Clary offered softly, and she tightened her fingers around his, giving him the only sympathy that she could. She could feel his pain and anguish that was pulsing inside him, pain that usually he would push down. She had always known that there was a substantial amount of grief that he carried around, even though he was good at hiding his emotions, it was close to impossible to hide them from Clary. Even when she _wasn't_ looking for something, if she was around someone for long enough, she would pick up on things.

But she had thought that it was all related to loosing his mother, who he had loved, and the anger and guilt he felt toward his father—she knew that there was more to his father death than what he had briefly mentioned to her and what she had found online. Jace hadn't spoken about it with her yet, but she trusted that he would one day, which is why she hadn't pushed him any further, and also why, it seemed, she didn't find anything about Sebastian.

"You think that he's involved it all of this?" Clary prompted after a few minutes of silence.

"I _know_ he's involved in all of this," Jace stated. "He came back into town about six weeks ago, a few weeks before all of this happened, and I just know that he's behind it. I just need to prove it, and then find out where to go from there." Clary nodded and leaned forward, ignoring the pain in her stomach as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for telling me," she murmured, lips against his ear. "I didn't even know that you had a brother." Jace pulled back and he looked surprised.

"You didn't?" He asked and Clary tilted her head to the side, her long hair falling forward.

"You know I don't just take things from you," she said quietly.

"And you know that you're always welcome in my head," Jace responded, lifting his hand to cup her jaw, his thumb brushing over the curve of her cheek. "I like you being that close." He licked his lower lip and he looked a little self concious, but Clary knew it was just because he wasn't usually so open with anyone. She nodded with a intimate smile and leaned into him.

 **So my song recommendations this week... _Polygraph Eyes_ by Yungblud, I think it's incredible. Also the live cover version _I Will Follow You Into The Dark_ by Yungblud and Halsey, and this also shows incredible chemistry between them. So, Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison...I totally understand that he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I adore him. He's only twenty-one and he has written some incredible songs. _Polygraph Eyes_ is about sexual assault and the consent issue that is so big right now. _Medication_ that talks about our heavily medicated society, and _Kill Somebody_ , which is a something of a visual representation of depression and anxiety, which hits hard for me. He's really open about his own mental illness and ADHD, and he's continually breaking down gender norms and sexual stereotypes—dude wears more pink that a Disney princess, rocks dresses and skirts, regularly makes out with his guitarist and has a beautiful relationship with Halsey. I recommend him so much, he's just so unapologetically himself and blunt and incredible, please, please, please check him out. **

**TV series and movies...I'm really enjoying _Bull_ and _Ray Donovan_ at the moment. Also, _Animal Kingdom_ , which I started watching for Finn Cole, who is also in _Peaky Blinders_ , and it's fucking amazing. So is _Peaky Blinders_ , though. So both of them. We also recently rewatched _Hairspray_ , which I adore. Haha. **

**Ooh, also! We have release date for the new _Veronica Mars_ series! I feel like I've been waiting a life time for it. And for _Big Little Lies_! I wasn't to keen on a second season just because the first one was complete and there was only one book, but I'm still excited for it. **

**I've gone to a couple of concerts this month; Anne Marie and Billie Eilish. Both of them had such incredible voices live, they sounded pretty much exactly like their studio recordings and they had such insane energy. Anne Marie seemed like a total sweetheart, full of smiles and giggles, and then Billie was just amazing, that girl is going places given she's gotten this far and she's only seventeen. The whole crowd for Billie was on their feet the whole time, even us in the seated section—she was just magnetic. Tickets for her were insane, we only just managed to get some in the last release.**

 **Ooh, and Drax Project have a new music video out for their song _Woke Up_ Late featuring Hailee Steinfeld. My hubby wasn't too happy, because it's got Liza Koshy in it and he finds her frustrating at hell. **

**Now for my questions! Okay...What is a ship, or multiple ships, that have broken your heart, or that have really made you feel just a little fucked up? Can be canon or not. My top one would have to be Hanna/Caleb from _Pretty Little Liars_. I absolutely fucking hated season 6 and 7 of _PLL_ , and I stopped watching it until they got back together, and even then, it actually felt like my whole stomach had been ripped out of my body when there was the whole Spencer/Caleb story line. And then the other two would be Landon/Jamie from _A Walk To Remember_ and Ian/Mickey from _Shameless_. Holy shit. My fucking heart. There are plenty of other couples that really hit me as well, Steve/Bucky from _Avengers_ , Alex/Michael from _Roswell: New Mexico_ , Bellamy/Clarke from _The 100_ , Logan/Veronica from Veronica Mars, Chuck/Blair from _Gossip Girl_ , Will/Alicia from _The Good Wife_ and Jane/Michael from _Jane The Virgin_ to name a few.**

 **Next one; what is your favourite colour? Super easy, right? Haha. Although I don't have one, so maybe it's not...Green or purple? Maybe? Haha.**

 **And then; are you preparing to be emotionally fucked up by _Avengers: Endgame_ , or are you completely indifferent? I'm seeing it in a couple of hours, and I tell you, I am fucked. And I am _going_ to be so fucked. I've looked up every spoiler possible, watched a bit of the leaked footage and I'm still not prepared. If you guys want any spoilers or anything, just message me, and I'll try to retain everything through my hysteria.**

 **Just as my last point, my love and heart goes out to those in Sri Lanka. My cousin and I cried when waking up and reading what happened and I can't even fathom how those who were involved and directly affected are feeling right now.**

 **Love to you all xx**


	15. Chapter 15

After another week and a half went by—just over a full month after the accident—Catarina said that she thought it was time for Clary to go to physio. Clary had never been so relieved to be allowed out of a house in her whole life, even though it was just to go and see another doctor. Jace still hadn't allowed her to even _Skype_ her TA or Simon, and a few of the calls that she had from Tessa definitely showed how concerned the girl was about her, and Simon sounded downright pissed off whenever he called her. Clary tried not to focus too much on how worried Tessa was, but even through the _phone_ she could tell how worried she was, and Simon didn't even _try_ to hide how annoyed he was, reminding her time and time again, that if she was being held against her will, he could have the police there in a matter of minutes.

Clary wasn't even going to begin to tell her best friend that any police attention that Simon tried to bring toward Jace would immediately be quashed and hidden, so she just assured him that she was fine, and reminded him that if she didn't want to be there, then she would have no problem with making them all freeze and getting herself out.

Actually finding a physio turned out to be a whole lot harder than it should have been.

It wasn't hard on Clary, because she had absolutely no say in the matter, but she did feel bad for Max and Raphael, who had been given a list of recommended physiotherapists from Catarina, and had to do thorough background checks on all of them. Clary tried to protest, saying that this wasn't something that they needed to take too seriously, but Max got a thunderous look on his face and said her recovery and her safety had to be taken with the utmost seriousness.

They finally found a physiotherapist that they agreed on, and presented him to Jace, who went and had an actual face-to-face meeting with Meliorn Hassouné before he said that he was happy with her going to see him.

"You don't need to be here," Clary looked between Jace and Alec with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," Jace stated in a firm voice that said there was no room for argument. At this point, Clary was just glad to be out of the house and breathing fresh air again, and she knew how worried and concerned for her Jace was, so she didn't want to make this anymore difficult for him. But then she turned to Alec, pursing her lips unhappily about having a second watch dog, and he just shook his head, a similar, stony expression on his face.

"I go where he goes," he said in a flat voice. _And for now, where you go, to make sure you're safe_ , Alec thought, maybe a bit louder than he planned to, because Clary heard it loud and clear in her mind. She was slightly surprised at the thought, given her and Alec didn't have the best relationship. She knew that it was nothing personal—of course she had never told Alec that she caught his thoughts sometimes, she couldn't help it. He had difficulty trusting people, especially people that were as powerful as she was, and he loved Jace fiercely, and he wanted to make sure that he was always safe. Even though Clary had proved herself over and over again as someone who could be trusted, and as someone who was going to take advantage of Jace or betray him, Alec was still tentative with her.

So there was a warm feeling in her stomach that Alec was worried about her.

Although, that warm feeling in her stomach was masked almost immediately by a pain that had her nearly doubled over because she had momentarily forgotten her situation and tried to straighten up. Just because her body was starting to heal, definitely didn't mean that she was back to a hundred percent again. She couldn't walk without the support of crutches, and she most certainly couldn't straighten her torso.

"Clarissa?" Came a soft voice and she looked toward a handsome Lebanese man who gave her a soft smile and didn't look all that surprised when he saw Jace and Alec both move forward to flank the petite red head. "I just have one request—I understand that you want to ensure Clarissa's safety, however I believe that if both of you remain on this side of the door."

"I don't—" Jace began but Meliorn held up his hand.

"There are no other doors in this room, I am willing to have your friend inspect it if necessary," he continued, calmly nodding at Alec before looking back to Jace, obviously knowing who was in charge. "However, in my professional opinion, Clarissa will do better if she and I are given some privacy."

Clary was pretty sure she had never wanted to kiss anyone so much in her life.

After an hour had past, the feeling had most assuredly past, and she was kind of tempted to throttle Meliorn. She was sweating, staining right through the sports bra and tank top that was wearing, and all she wanted to do was get into a warm bath and then slip into bed. But it was good, she knew that she needed this to help her body heal. Meliorn helped her over to a seat and then went to the door and let Jace and Alec in, both of them looking as though they had not relaxed in the slightest since they had waited for her.

"Are you alright?" Jace asked, his voice a little gruff, which she knew he did because he wanted to cover up how worried he was about her.

"I'm okay," Clary gave him a tired smile, resting heavily against his side as he moved to stand next to her. Alec had his perpetual scowl fixed on his face, but she felt a ripple of sympathy come from Alec as he glanced her over, noting the perspiration on her face and the sweat that was showing through her clothes.

"Alright," Jace nodded, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her tightly against his side. Public displays of affection was unusual for Jace—he didn't like people outside his tight knit circle seeing them together, because if the wrong person saw how much he cared about her, then it could be used against him. But he seemed to have deemed Meliorn as trustworthy—even if he did still glare at him every time he looked in the other mans direction—and he looked toward Alec. "Tell Raphael to meet us out at the back entrance." Meliorn arched an eyebrow at the request, but he didn't argue, leading the way down a hall that continued past two other doors that had names of others physical therapists, and then a bathroom. Raphael was already at the back door, waiting for it to be opened when Meliorn unlocked it and swung it open. Raphael glanced at the three men, and then at Clary, reaching out an arm to her.

"How you doing, _hermosa mujer_?" Raphael asked gently as he took Clary's weight from Jace and she walked toward him, carefully going down the three steps to where the car was parked in the driveway. "You look tired," he noted as he helped her toward the car.

"I'm fucking exhausted," she answered honestly, letting out a short laugh, although there wasn't much humour in the laugh. She was tired and sore, and while it felt good to finally be out of the safe house, right now she just wanted to go back, have a shower, and get into bed. She got in the back seat of the armored SUV and closed her eyes as she rested back against the head rest. She couldn't hear what everyone was saying verbally once Raphael shut the door, but she was so in tune with Jace's thoughts, she didn't need to concentrate too hard to hear what was happening.

Jace was giving Meliorn a lot of money, to make sure he kept his mouth shut and to keep Clary's names off the books. It sounded as though Catarina had already told Meliorn that this was a special case, and that he needed to make sure he didn't tell anyone who it was he was treating. But just a simple skim through Meliorn's thoughts, Clary could tell that Meliorn knew barely anything, he didn't even know what her last name was. He recognized Jace, he knew that he had seen him before, but even though his interest was piqued at the unusual circumstances, the amount of money that Jace was paying him was enough that he wasn't going to try and find out who he was.

"Let's get you home, _lyubov moya_ ," Jace said as he got into the back of the SUV beside Clary, moving so that he was sitting in the centre of the two backseats and reaching out for her hand, twining their fingers together. She was tired, and it took a lot for her to keep awake in the backseat of the SUV, and to try and keep herself awake, she concentrated on Jace, picking up on an interesting thought.

"What happened with Simon?" Clary asked quietly and Jace glanced over at her, a small curve on his lips.

"I was going to tell you, I promise," he told her with a slight smirk.

"Sure you were," Clary mumbled as she rested her head on his shoulder. Simon had been ringing her everyday, asking how she was doing, not sounding particularly happy when Clary said she didn't need him to come by and visit, and she knew that it was irking Jace. Not that she had a friend who was checking up on her, but more than Simon didn't sound as though he trusted Jace at all, and Jace didn't like his integrity being questioned, or just how far he would go to protect Clary.

"Will went by and picked up some more of your students papers," Jace told him. "Simon saw him talking to your TA and, of course—" there was a purse of his lips and a roll of his eyes at that. "—He came over and had a hundred questions."

"It's just because he's worried," Clary reminded him quietly. "Me and Simon...We usually don't go more than a few days without seeing each other, and it's been a couple of weeks now, and he knows that I'm hurt." Jace nodded once, tightening his grip on her hand. She then caught a glimpse of Will in his mind, and it was a bit of an unexpected expression. "What was he getting all lovey-dovey about?" Clary asked.

"Huh?" Jace looked confused as he looked down at her, his breath warm on her forehead.

"When he was talking to you earlier..." she caught the memory again, of Will repeating the story back to Jace about talking with Simon but more specifically, her TA. "Ah," there was a small smile on her face.

"What?" Jace asked.

"It was when he was talking about Tessa," Clary murmured, deciding that maybe getting a few minutes sleep while they were on their way back to safe house.

"Your TA?" Jace questioned.

"Yup," Clary nodded sleepily. She could still feel the confusion coming off Jace, but it seemed as though he made the decision to ask her about it later. She appreciated that, since it only took her a couple more minutes and she was falling fast asleep.

 **I don't really have the energy for a paragraph thing sorry. I've been fucking spiraling for the past six weeks or so, although I guess I had my birthday? Which was okay?**

 **Um... _Nightmare_ by Halsey is a fucking anthem and I don't know how many times I've listened and cried to it in the past day and half it's been out.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the update.**


	16. Chapter 16

It had been seven weeks since the accident. She had been going to physiotherapy four days a week for the past two weeks. It had been horrible, the actual sessions themselves, but after she had showered and sometimes had a nap, she felt a whole lot better. She was walking around by herself, although it was a little stiff, and it was going to be a while before she could run. Catarina had come by just a few days ago and taken out the stitches. There was a nasty, circular scar that was going to be with Clary for life, and it was still fresh, the skin pink and shiny. It was almost right in the middle of her abdomen, just beside her belly button, and Clary caught herself staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, feeling detached from her body.

It was ugly.

It wasn't as though that should even be an issue right now, she should just be happy that she was getting back to functioning normally, and hopefully getting back to her job soon, but it was still something that was bothering her.

She knew that she shouldn't be upset about it, and so she tried to focus on the good that was happening. Her bosses at the University were extremely understanding, even though she hadn't actually gone in to see them face to face, everything taking place over email and phone. Will and Alec had gone in a couple of times, to give in medical certificates and collect work, because the temp that they had gotten in and Tess shouldn't be responsible for picking up all her slack.

Simon had also resorted to sending her novel length texts—to the new, burner cellphone number that Jace had given her—and at the end of every single one he said that he loved her and he hoped she was getting better. Jace had even given Simon the okay to tell a few more of her friends that she had been hurt, sticking with the story of being in a simple car accident, and had grudgingly agreed that she could give her number to a couple more of her friends. Maia was confused as to why she was pretty much on house arrest, and didn't understand why she couldn't come over and see her, but Clary tried to change the subject whenever that came up.

Max and Isabelle and Magnus had been good and keeping her company through the day if Jace had to go into work. Will came by as well, although most of the time he was at Jace's side, with Alec. Although apparently Will was always the first to volunteer to go to the University when Tess text her and said that there were more assignments, and when he came by the safe house to drop them by, Clary always caught glimpses of him flirting with her TA, and she made a couple of teasing remarks about it. She thought it was adorable when he flushed red and how confused Jace was. For an incredibly intelligent man, he really missed some social cues.

And then there was Jace...He was being incredibly supportive.

But he was also treating her as though she would break.

Jace had always treated her as though she was precious, something to be loved and cared for, but he always knew that she could hold her own. She wasn't a skilled fighter, but her and Maia knew some self defense moves, and they went to a boxing class a couple of times a week—and that was just her physical self. Mentally, she could freeze a whole room of people with just a stray thought. She could possibly make a whole building stand still in their tracks without realizing what she was doing, but she had never tried to stretch her powers quite that far.

She got hurt.

She got hurt _badly_.

But she didn't blame Jace. She was strong. She was _recovering_.

And she wanted things to go back to normal.

They were laying in bed together, and although it wasn't as familiar as her own bed or as comfortable as Jace's one in his apartment, it was good enough. Jace was doing something on his iPad, and he was wearing a pair of rectangular glasses that sort of gave him a hot-nerd edge, and he was focusing hard on whatever it was that he was doing. Clary had been marking some of her students paperwork, and messaging Tessa as she went, but she had lost focus time ago. Clary licked her lips, reaching out to rest her hand on the back of Jace's neck.

"I won't be too much longer," Jace told her, flashing her a quick smile. "Then we can turn off the light and go to sleep." Clary pursed her lips together and narrowed her eyes slightly. She shifted her hand, flattening it against the nape of his neck and rubbing her thumb along the line of his neck. Jace hummed out, and she saw him pause skimming through his iPad. She moved her hand again, pressing her thumb into his shoulder, massaging it lightly, and she saw Jace's grip on the iPad went slack and he closed his eyes. Clary wanted to twist her body around and straddle Jace's lap, but she knew that would probably hurt her—it would _definitely_ hurt her—and then there was no way in hell Jace would consider having sex with her.

She understood not being able to for the first month or so, but she was feeling better now, and as long as they moved gently and slowly, she knew that she would be okay.

 _She just wanted her man_.

"Or we could turn off the light, and _not_ go to sleep?" Clary suggested with a cheeky smile and wiggle of her eyebrows. Jace turned to her, and she could already see his eyes shutting down and beginning to shake his head.

"No, I'm not going to—"

"You're not going to hurt me," Clary told him firmly. "I trust you." Jace locked his jaw, and she knew that he was thinking back to how she got hurt, and how she had only been in that position _because_ she trusted him. The guilt was eating him up, no matter how many times she told him that this wasn't his fault, and she didn't blame him. Clary took in a breath, settling her thoughts, before she let her mind open up. Usually she warned Jace before she let him in so completely, but he was relaxed, and she didn't push it on him forcefully, just let it slowly wash over him.

She told him how much she loved him, and how much she trusted him, and how much she wanted him. The thoughts were warm and fuzzy to begin with, while Jace got used to it, and then she began letting a few naughtier ones slip in, the thoughts that she had been having when he got out of the shower and came into the room with only a towel around his waist. Or when she was just waking up in the morning and Jace was spooning her, and she could feel his erection pressing against her ass.

"The second you're in any pain—"

"I'll tell you," Clary promised. Jace still looked hesitant, but she could see that his eyes were a darker gold colour now, so obviously the sexier thoughts that she had been sending were getting through to him. He leaned over and kissed her.

It was brief at first, a few passes of his lips over hers. But then she felt a flick of her tongue, and it was like there was an instant flood between her legs. Just the smallest touch of his tongue, and she could already feel her whole body melting. She let out a harsh breathe and tried to twist her body around so that she could reach out for him, but she let out a gasp and Jace instantly pulled back.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Clary assured him quickly. "It's just annoying," she sighed. Jace licked his lips, considering their position.

"Up with your hands," he told her quietly. Clary lifted her arms and Jace pulled the singlet over her head, leaving her torso bare. She leaned back against the pillows, wincing just slightly at a twinge in her side, but Jace was careful as he moved between her legs. "Lift up," he murmured, and Clary shifted her hips, lifting her ass off the mattress so that Jace could pull off her sleeping shorts and the underwear that she had underneath, now completely naked. Jace's eyes raked over her, and while Clary had her mind open for Jace, he didn't have any barriers up either, and she could see what he was seeing when he looked at her.

He didn't see an ugly blemish.

He saw a battle scar.

He didn't see a victim.

He saw a fighter.

The love he felt for her was endless and despite what a tough and unyielding world that Jace lived in, he was completely soft and adoring when it came to her.

Jace settled on his knees between her legs, leaning forward and kissing her once more on her mouth before making his way down her neck. He licked and bit gently at her neck, his nose bumping against her ear and sucking at the spot that made her writhe underneath him. His lips pressed kisses over her collarbone, and down to her breasts, taking his time with both of them until they were heavy and her nipples were aching and pointed.

Then he licked her scar, kissing it gently, lipping at the puckered skin lovingly. He took his time, and there were tears in Clary's eyes as she felt all that love and respect that he had for her pouring from his mind, and through every move that he made.

He kissed the crease of where her legs met her torso and then shifted to the middle of her legs, where Clary was already wet and needy. He didn't make her wait, either, delving his tongue into her hidden place so quickly that Clary's whole body jerked upward. There was a stab of pain in her side, but it rapidly subsided as the pleasure rushed through her. It felt as though all of her muscles were dissolving in her body, like she was going to melt into the mattress, as Jace's tongue worked inside her.

His nose bumped against her clit, taking time to lick up and down her slit, teeth pressing against her clit as well before he sucked it between his lips.

Clary couldn't stop herself from moaning and twisting, and she was vaguely aware of the tightness in her skin at her side, warning her not to move too much, and she tried to listen to her body, but Jace just felt so good. His tongue worked her over, curling and pushing, slipping down to flick between her ass cheeks before slipping back inside her.

Clary came with a cry, and it felt as though there were bright lights exploding behind her eyes as she came. One of her hands went to Jace's head, the other gripping at the sheet beneath her, and it just felt as though she _kept on coming_. Jace didn't stop eating her pussy until her body jerked a couple of times and she finally stopped, immediately becoming over-sensitive. Her mind was still completely open to him, and he knew just the right time to stop, lifting up his head to look at her. Clary was breathing heavily and she managed to open her eyes to see him take his cock in his hand and pump his hand up and down.

She wanted to reach out and help him, but she could already sense how close he was and her body still felt as though it was made of jelly. The image of her moaning and coming playing over and over in his head before he came over her leg, hissing out her name through his teeth. Jace fell forward, making sure to fall to the side so that he didn't hurt her.

Clary knew that they were going to have to do some clean up, but right now—as Jace reached out and rested his hand over hers—she was content to just rest.

 **Um...My song recommendations for this week would be _Hitchhiker_ by Demi Lovato, _All You Need To Know_ by Gryffin featuring Calle Lehmann, _Rollercoaster_ by The Jonas Brothers and _All This Time_ by Drax Project, which has just officially been released. The studio version doesn't quite hold up to the live version, it's like there's too much synth and they tried to downplay how powerful the sax it's, which is the best part of the song. I've got this recording of when we saw them at smaller concert, at a club, and the whole atmosphere is fucking amazing when this song comes on, if we're friends on Facebook or Snapchat and you want a copy, let me know and I'll send it through :) But I still recommend the version that's out there on Youtube and Spotify.**

 **Moviewise... _John Wick 3_ was incredible, as expected. I bawled by eyes out in _Rocketman_ , but it was so, so good. I adore Taron Egerton and Richard Maddon, and they played their roles so well. I don't recommend the new Ted Bundy film, tbh. I was looking forward to it, I love Zac Efron and Lily Collins, and Ted Bundy is a fascinating study subject, but...I just felt like it glorified him so much, and it honestly made me feel a bit sick. TV shows I would recommend would be _Madam Secretary, Harlots_ and _High Seas_. Also, did anyone watch the first episode of _Euphoria_? It is absolutely fucking amazing. I bawled my eyes out and my heart hurt and there were parts that hit a little close to home, but shit, it's so fucking good. **

**Lyric of the week...' _My daddy put a gun to my head/Said if you kiss a boy, I'm gonna shoot you dead/So I tied him up with gaffa tape and I locked him in a shed/Then I went out to the garden and I fucked my best friend_ '...**


	17. Chapter 17

**Merp, I've kinda lost track of my updating schedule? *Throws updates and internet cookies***

Clary walked over to the window, running her fingers over the netting that hung over the glass, hooking one finger around the edge of the curtain and pulling it away. There was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her and she huffed under her breath and let the curtain fall back in front of the window and turned around.

"Really?" She asked, her voice sour as she looked over at Alec, who was sitting on the couch, and looking just as unhappy in the situation as she did.

"You know Jace doesn't want you by the windows," he mumbled before he looked back at the TV, his fingers drumming impatiently on his knee. It was nearly six o'clock in the evening, and the sun was beginning to set outside, and all Clary wanted to do was go outside, and feel the last of the warmth from the sun and the cool, evening breeze. She was still pretty much restricted to the house except for when they were going to her therapy sessions with Meliorn or her weekly check ups with Catarina. Simon had actually come by twice, glaring at everyone who set foot in the room while he was visiting, and Clary was talking with Tessa on the phone a lot more.

She could almost walk completely normally now.

Stretching her arms above her head pulled her skin a bit, and bending over also made ached, but other than that, she was fine.

She wanted to get home.

She wanted to go back to her life.

And she was pretty sure that Alec, and Isabelle, and Raphael—and the rest of Jace's inner circle all wanted her to go back to her life as well, so that they didn't need to take turns babysitting her, but they wouldn't speak out against Jace.

Clary knew that he was just being overprotective, and it was just because he felt guilty about her getting hurt, and he didn't want to put her in dangers way.

But Clary needed to get back to her life, and she was going to talk to him tonight. She wasn't a kid, he couldn't keep her locked away in this safe house forever, even if his intentions were good.

A portal suddenly opened in the corner of the room, near the doorway, and Max and Jace stepped through it. Clary looked toward the two men, forcing a small smile despite how cooped up she felt as Jace instantly searched the room for her. He looked good, wearing a suit and tie—his usual work attire, but then she always thought that he looked good.

"You need me here any longer?" Alec asked as he got up from the couch, looking eager to escape the house. Clary didn't take any offence to it, though, she knew that she hadn't been the best to be around. She had run out of work to mark for her students, Tessa was going over and above to plan the lessons so she didn't have that to do that, even though she wouldn't have minded. Jace had been gone since before she woke up that morning, and so other than the hour and a half that she had been gone from the house to travel to her physiotherapist, attend her session, and then travel back to the safe house, she had had nothing to do. Which meant in turn, Alec had nothing to do.

And she wasn't exactly the best company, given how bored and restless she was.

"No, you're good to go," Jace nodded at his cousin and then over his shoulder at Max. "You guys have a good night."

"See ya, Clary," Max called from the other side of the room, shooting her a smile before disappearing back through the portal. Alec touched her on the shoulder gently as he passed by her, then slapped Jace on the arm by way of goodbye, before clicking his fingers together and disappearing. Jace turned to Clary, his face beginning to relax from the mask that he wore all day at work, but he saw something in her eyes that made him tense up again, and she almost felt bad for what she was about to do.

"What is it?" Jace asked, coming over to stand in front of her, reaching up a hand to touch her face.

"I was thinking..." Clary began, taking in a deep breath. "I was thinking about moving back into my apartment." Jace's eyebrows immediately drew together and his hand dropped to his side and he took a step back. "Jace—" she felt him withdrawing from her, his mind had been open to her, like it usually was, and he was pulling back and closing his mind off, and she knew it was because he felt hurt. "It's not you, it's not because I'm angry with you, or even necessarily want space. It's because I want my _life_ back."

"I would just prefer it if you stayed here until we figured everything out, and until we know Sebastian is gone," Jace told her in a flat voice as he turned to walk into the kitchen. "Or dead," he muttered, so quietly that Clary was guessing she probably wasn't meant to hear it. Her eyebrows shot up at that comment, but she wasn't going to address that whole situation right now. "And I want to make sure that you're properly healed."

"I _am_ healed," Clary told him as she followed him into the kitchen, at a slightly slower pace. "I'm not one hundred percent back to how I was, but I'm doing a lot better. I'm definitely well enough to go back to my apartment and go back to work. I'm not going to be taking any hikes to the Grand Canyon or anything, but I can get around by myself." She approached Jace, where he was standing by the sink, both hands braced against the counter, and softened her voice. "I'm not saying that I don't appreciate everything you've done for me—all of your team—it's just...I want to get back to my life."

"I understand that," Jace's words were clipped. "I would just rather you wait until this whole situation was sorted." It wasn't just that, Clary could feel this without even attempting to pry into Jace's mind.

"There's more to it than that," Clary prompted gently. Jace took in a deep breath, she saw his shoulders lift. "You know I can always just read your mind, right?" She took a step closer to him and let out a short laugh, trying to lighten the situation. Jace gave an uncomfortable laugh in response, which made her frown.

"Yeah, but I can't read yours. I don't know how you feel," Jace muttered. Clary's eyebrows just furrowed deeper at that, and she walked until she was right behind Jace, and rested her hands on his back. Despite what she said, she wasn't going to pry into his mind right now, this was the sort of thing that she wanted him to say, wanted him to explain and voice it to her, at his own pace. Jace turned around and took in another deep breath, and he took her hands in his own, clasping them together in front of his body and rubbing his thumbs gently over her knuckles.

"I love you," Jace told her, his voice steady, and his eyes boring into hers. Clary felt completely surprised at the statement, not at all what she was expecting to come from him. Jace seemed to see the surprise on her face, and he shook his head. "How can you not see that?" He asked her, his voice low and intimate, given how close they were too each other. "Everyone around us can see it, and they can't read my mind."

"I—" the word got stuck in Clary's throat. She swallowed hard, every inch of her skin sparking and feeling alive, the metal ring that she wore around her thumb pulsing. "It's not like being in love with someone is a big flashing sign..." she swallowed again, her cheeks warm and her body completely aware of the way that it was pressed right up against Jace's, his tall figure towering over her petite one. "Love is so much more complicated than that, it's a completely tangled mess, and it's a hundred different memories and thoughts, and I don't—I don't—"

"I love you," Jace repeated, cutting off her rambling and making her blink at him, her lips still parted.

"I love you too," Clary whispered, and Jace's lips quirked upward the right corner for a split second before he reached down and kissed her. It was chaste and soft, and through that connection, Clary completely opened up her mind to him, letting him in. It wasn't often that she did it, although Jace was the person that she had done it the most with, other than Simon, because most people felt completely overwhelmed when allowed into someone elses mind.

Clary projected her feelings and images into Jace's head, and she in turn absorbed the feelings that he had in reaction to her.

Jace took those feelings, those thoughts, those emotions that she was giving to him, and he accepted them from her. He was stronger than anyone else she had done this exchange with so openly—the first time that she had ever done it was when she was first coming into her powers, and she had overwhelmed her mother so much that Jocelyn Fray had ended up in hospital for nearly a week, recovering from the onslaught. Clary had been lucky that she had parents who sent her to the best schools and doctors to help her control her abilities.

Jace, though, Jace completely opened his mind to her.

He completely trusted her.

He took everything she had to give him, knowing that she would never give him more than he could handle.

Everything she was showing him, _told him_ how much she loved him. It was all jumbled up and not one thread could probably be tracked and followed, but it was all _him_ and _them_ and what they had together. The edges were all soft and the memories and emotions all glowed, and it was all _love_.

Clary wasn't sure how long the exchange went for, but Jace was leaning heavily against the bench and Clary was pressing her full weight against him. She was used to the thoughts and emotions, given it was something she dealt with every day, but sharing them with someone could be tiring. Jace didn't look tired, but he was good at hiding it, and she could see a sheen of tears in his eyes. They stayed like that for a long time, both processing everything that they had just gone through, but when Clary pulled back, she was still determined.

"I will stay with you," she told him softly, but firmly. "But I'm going back to work." Jace stared down at her, love and adoration in his face, along with resignation, because he knew that there was no getting around this.

"Alright," he murmured, lifting up his thumb to stroke along her cheek, underneath her eye. "But I want someone to go with them." Clary parted her lips and looked as though she was about to argue. "I'll make sure they're discreet," he assured her, but it was clear that he wasn't backing down, just as stubborn as her.

"Alright," she muttered. She would imagine Will would be more than happy to accompany her, and try to get time in to see Tessa. "Also, I would prefer it if we went back to your actual apartment. This place just doesn't feel right." It wasn't home. Jace's pent house apartment wasn't home, but it felt a whole lot more like it than this place, which was just bland and faceless.

"I'll think about it," Jace told her, and it wasn't a yes, but Clary would take it for now.

 **So songs I recommend are _I Think I'm OKAY_ by MGK, Yungblud and Travis Baker, which I absolutely adore, and the song and especially the music video give me intense early 2000's feels, and _Lost_ by Dermont Kennedy, which is so damn beautiful, I've completely fallen in love with it. Also _Lost Without You_ by Freya Ridlings, which was sent to me by _Reppinda5o3_ and is completely heart breaking. Umm...I can't really think of many movies and TV series I've been watching lately. Sorry :( **

**Okay, so, questions; what's your lockscreen/homescreen/blah blah blah? My lockscreen is Dominic Harrison and my homescreen is Demi Lovato, both total babes.**

 **Umm...What are you go-to feel good movies? Mine are—not in any type of order— _Princess Bride, The Swan Princess, Stardust, Spirit_ and _Frozen_. Lol. Not even sorry. I think _Catch and Release_ might be working its way onto this list as well. **

**...' _Please tell me I'm your one and only/Or lie and say at least tonight/I've got a brand new cure for lonely/And if you give me what I want/Then I'll give you what you like_ '...**

 **xxxxxxx**


	18. Chapter 18

"I'm so glad you're back!" Tessa all but squealed when Clary stepped into her art studio, early on a Monday morning. It was before seven in the morning, and the first class she had wasn't until nine, but she _needed_ to get back into her classroom and she familiarize herself with the room that she had spent so much time in but had been absent from for two months. "Oh my god, you have no _idea_ how good it is to see you back here again."

"It's good to be back here," Clary murmured, letting Tessa envelop her in a hug. "Ooh, not too hard," Clary reminded Tessa, feeling pressure against her stomach, which was still tender.

"Oh, right!" Tessa pulled back and made a face. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," Clary told her with a smile.

"That car accident really did a number on you," Tessa gave her a sympathetic look. "I couldn't imagine you staying away any longer than you needed to." Clary lifted her eyebrows in response to that, because _that_ was the total truth. She wanted to come back a few weeks ago, even though she was just managing to walk normally again. The two woman linked arms and started walking toward the front of the class, where her office was, and after they opened the door and walked inside, Tessa glanced over her shoulder to where Will was standing in the studio. "Uh, what's he doing here?"

"Oh, he just..." Clary had been trying to think of a good reason why Will was going to be escorting her to her class and then pretty much everywhere else on the campus. "Jace just wants to make sure I don't collapse or anything. You know—from the injury," she waved at her middle and gave Tessa a tight smile.

"Right," Tessa nodded. "Well, that's nice of him."

"It is," Clary gave Tessa a smile as she sat down at her desk and wiggled around in her seat. It felt a little different than usual, probably because Tessa had been sitting in it for the past weeks as she marked and graded the students art. Clary glanced at Tessa from underneath her thick eyelashes, and noted with a smile that her TA was looking out the doorway, back toward the studio where Will was standing. She barely had to even focus on Tessa to get a glimpse at the way she saw Will, pretty much bathed in a golden glow, and it was hilarious, really, because Tessa was doubting herself. She clearly liked Will, but she thought that he was out of her league. She had no idea how much he liked her back, which is the reason why he had been more than happy to accompany Clary to class. They had clearly been interacting a lot when he had been coming in to pick up work for Clary over the past few weeks. "I've got a lot of catching up to do here," Clary began, waving at the mess that was cluttered across her desk.

"Yeah?" Tessa mumbled, not sounding as though she was listening, her eyes still glued to Will as he moved from canvas to canvas, frowning and tilting his head to the side as he tried to understand each piece.

"Yup," Clary lifted an eyebrow at her, even thought Tessa's attention wasn't on her at all. "So you can...Go and chat up the cute guy out there, if you want." Tessa's head snapped back toward her and her cheeks flared red for a split second. _Of_ course _she knows_ , voiced from inside Tessa's head, and Clary smirked. "Don't worry, I haven't said anything to him."

"Well..." Tessa bit her lip and looked hopeful. "Has he said anything about...Me?" She asked.

"You know I'm not gonna tell you anything I hear," Clary gave her a look. "Just like I wouldn't tell him anything I hear from you." And when Clary said 'hear' she meant the voices in her head. It had been a dilemma for her ever since she was little, when she could hear certain things and wanted to tell someone, to let them know the secrets that she found. It wasn't big things, like when she was sitting in a cramped food court and read in someones mind that he was cheating on his wife, and then read on his wife's mind that she was blissfully unaware and also pregnant. There had also read on a passerby's mind that she was getting beaten by her husband regularly and didn't know what to do...Her teachers at the expensive boarding school she went to helped her regulate things...She kept to herself most things, and the really scary things, she would call in anonymous tips to the police.

But things like this...Almost high school dramas, she likes him/he likes her, Clary definitely kept that to herself.

"He would be crazy not to," Clary prompted Tessa. "Go."

* * *

Jace took in a deep breath as he waited for the elevator to reach the top floor where his office was. He had been out most of the morning in meetings, with Alec at his side and Raphael watching everything from a distance, driving from one unsavory place to another as he tried to find out where Sebastian was. He had a dozen snitches around the city, people involved in the underworld of Los Angeles, and a dozen more on his payroll who were in higher up of Los Angeles, on the police force and in the DA's office.

No one had anything on Sebastian.

"Hey, boss man," Isabelle sung out as he picked up his phone and pressed it to his ear.

"You got anything, Iz?" Jace asked as the elevator doors slid open and he stepped out on the top floor. He strode to his end office, his fingers flicking subtly to open up the swinging doors by their metal handles and walking inside. The glass walls that he had completely destroyed when they had had their run in with Sebastian and Clary had been injured had been quickly fixed, and were back to their flawless looking self.

"We-ell, I've been going through the security footage of every single camera that I can find around your apartment, and there's absolutely nothing suspicious," Isabelle reported back to him. "No one's casing the place, there's no one who goes past every few hours—it looks safe."

"Thanks," Jace said off-handedly, beginning to pull his phone away from his ear when his cousin continued.

"Are you going back home?" Isabelle continued.

"I'm thinking about it," Jace said as he sat down behind his desk and picked up the cup of coffee that had been put on his desk. It was still steaming, and he guessed it was probably Alec who had just teleported in to drop it off before heading out again. Raphael was coming up the elevator and would be here soon with an update from their contacts at the police station, and he was also waiting for his hourly update from Will to come through on his laptop.

"Jace?" Isabelle asked and Jace realized he had zoned out.

"Sorry, what was that?" Jace asked as he turned on his laptop and took a sip from his coffee cup.

"I _said_ , I'm pretty sure Clary will feel better if you guys are back at her apartment," Isabelle repeated. "She's feeling cramped and she's feeling out of place. I know that she's going to feel better being back at work again, but you want her to be comfortable, right?"

"I also want her to be _safe_ ," Jace reminded her curtly.

"Well, I feel as though you guys would probably be even safer at her place, since you're the target," Isabelle sung out.

"Her place isn't as secure as mine," Jace stated, letting out an annoyed sigh because he knew that Isabelle already knew all of this.

"Great, well, if your place is secure, then you guys can go back there," Isabelle pressed. Jace looked up as he heard footsteps, and he could see through the thick glass walls that Raphael had just gotten off the elevator and was walking briskly toward the doors, Gretel Monroe close behind him, her long white-blonde hair bouncing with every step that she took.

"I have to go," Jace told his cousin. "I'll think about it." He hung up before she could respond. Raphael opened up the door, holding it for Gretel as she walked in and strode to his desk.

"All the plates are just linked to shell companies and random directors that don't fucking exist," she snapped. She really wasn't good when there was no news, similar to Jace, and that was why he liked her so much. She got results. "Same with the serial numbers for all the guns that we ran. They were all purchased from legal retailers, but with fake ID's and backgrounds."

"I'm thinking that we go after Hodge," Raphael proposed from where he was standing beside Gretel. "I mean, clearly he's involved at _some_ level, since he's the one that originally set up the meet."

"Alec and Max haven't been able to find anything on him," Jace grunted as opened up the emails on his laptop. There was one from Will with a couple of attachments, all photos with Clary in them although strangely enough, they seemed to focus more on the pretty brunette woman. Tessa. His eyebrows raised as he remembered Clary mentioning something about her TA and Will. He got it now. "Huh," he muttered.

"What?" Raphael asked.

"Nothing," Jace shook his head and pushed away the laptop and refocused on the two in front of him. "You think that you'll be able to uncover something more on Hodge?" He asked.

"Well—" Raphael looked hesitant, probably because Alec and Max were good at their jobs, and if they hadn't turned anything up, it was unlikely that they were going to. Gretel, on the other hand, looked more confident.

"I've got a guy, sometimes he does work for Hodge, you know, in enforcement," she said. "I'm sure I can get something out of him." Jace raised an eyebrow at the silver haired girl, but she didn't give anything away in her expression. They were all part of the underworld of the city, they regularly had dealings with the less than savory people, but Gretel really had a way of finding some of the worst ones and getting into bed with them. She didn't have any problem with turning them in, she didn't let herself get attached to any of them.

There was a triple murderer that she had had a fling with for over three years before he had crossed the line and Jace had turned him over to Jem and the LAPD. It had helped to bump Jem up to detective, which had put him in a better position to help Jace when he wanted certain favours.

"Be careful," Jace told Gretel, unnecessarily. Gretel just smirked, her eyes changing, becoming snake like, and she flicked out her tongue, which had become two-pronged. She shared similarities to a snake, a very _venomous_ snake, and that was on top of her quick mind and vicious fighting skills.

"We'll head out now," Gretel said as she turned without waiting for a response, heading for the door. Raphael paused as he went to follow her, looking back toward Jace.

"You planning on going back to your apartment?" He asked. Jace raised an eyebrow at him.

"Pillow talk with Isabelle doesn't get more exciting than talking about your boss?" He snorted and Raphael just rolled his eyes.

"Well, Clary would definitely like going back to the apartment. That girl needs a bit more freedom, she needs to be able to breathe," Raphael noted softly. Jace's expression softened, knowing that Raphael was just looking out for his Clary—someone that they all cared about, almost as much as Jace did.

"I know," Jace murmured and gave Raphael a small smile before he left the office.

 **Alright! Another mass update! I'm just...In a super shitty place right now, completely mental, my life is actually in a really good space—isn't it great when that happens? But writing is generally therapeutic so...Here we go.**

 **Movies I would recommend would be _Where The Heart Is_ , which is an old time favourite for me, and _How To Be Single_ , which I actually quite like, even though I don't like Dakota Johnson. It's like my love for Leslie Mann cancels that out though. Haha. I don't know...Both of these movies make me really sad and happy at the same time, so it's good.**

 **Songs that I've recently fallen in love with are _Perfectly Wrong_ by Shawn Mendes, _Chateau_ by Angus & Julia Stone, _You Make It Easy_ by Jason Aldean and _Marry Me_ by Thomas Rhett. Recommend any songs that you guys have had on repeat recently :)**

 **Hope you're all doing well, and please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter because I love your comments x**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, this is gonna be another one of these months you get two updates in month, so...*throws internet cookies***

Clary was back at work and two days after she returned, they also moved back to Jace's penthouse apartment. Clary loved her own apartment, because it was _hers_ , and it had been her home for nearly five years, but since she and Jace had gotten close and she had begun coming to Jace's apartment, she had been making it her own and she felt comfortable there now. And so it felt like heaven, being back here after they had been in the safe house for what felt like years.

She was still going to physical therapy twice a week, but she was walking without a hitch now, and Meliorn was even saying that she could go back to yoga with Maia in a few weeks time, as she long as she took it slow and didn't push herself.

But she wasn't worried about herself.

It was Jace that concerned her.

He was up all hours of the night, gone pretty much all day, every day. She had work every day of the week, and she left reasonably early in the morning—just after seven with Will, since she was still catching up on everything that she fell behind on—but she was usually home by five at the latest. Jace, on the other hand, was gone by the time she even woke up in the morning, and she was lucky if she saw him long enough to hold a conversation before she went to bed. It was the same in the weekends as well, and Clary couldn't help but feel isolated. She knew that he was doing it because he was still feeling guilty, still feeling as though he needed to completely take on his brother and whoever it was who was working for him, and he was throwing everything he had into it, which meant that he was never around.

Clary stayed up late on Saturday night, after going out for dinner with Maia, Jordan and Simon—escorted, of course, this time by Isabelle. Isabelle blended in a bit better than Will, though, and it seemed as though she hit it off with Simon. Clary caught a few glimpses of Raphael flitting through Isabelle's head as it happened, but that wasn't any of her business, and so she pushed them aside. Isabelle had come back to the penthouse with Clary, and hung around until she got a text from Raphael, letting her know that he and Jace were on their way back.

Isabelle had left, although Clary knew that she was only down one floor, in her own apartment, and Clary had gone and had a shower. She was sitting on Jace's bed with her bare legs crossed, drying her hair, when Jace came through the front door. She was able to sene his presence from the minute he had stepped foot into the apartment building, but had forced herself not to rush out to meet him until he had had a moment to unwind.

She could feel the stress, weighing heavy on his mind. It was like lead, filling every tiny gap in Jace's brain and filtering down through his body, making it hard for him to even _breathe_ without worrying. It made _her_ worry, her eyebrows pulling together as she stopped herself from intruding too much into his mind, but that didn't stop her from feeling how dense Jace's mind was right now.

"Hey," she said softly. Jace looked up from where he had put his wallet and keys down on the tall glass table that was beside the door. Despite everything that was worrying him, he still gave her a tired smile that was genuine, and made his eyes light up slightly, even though she could see the cloudiness behind them. He was tired, and she knew that he hadn't been sleeping through the nights, given how many times she woke up to him tossing and turning.

"Hi, _liebling_ ," Jace murmured. His tie was loosened and he had pulled out his usually perfectly pressed button down shirt from where it had been tucked in to his pants, and he looked a little crumbled. Clary walked over to where he was standing, reaching up on her tiptoes to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"Have you eaten?" She asked as she backed away, giving him some space. "I've got leftover Thai beef noodles in the fridge if you want some."

"It's alright, Alec grabbed us some sushi for inner," Jace told her with a sigh, walking into the kitchen and getting a glass out of the cupboard. Clary followed after him, leaning against the door frame and watching as he filled the glass with water.

"Tell me what's wrong," she prompted him gently. Jace paused, giving her a long look over the rim of glass before tipping his head back to drink. He finished the glass off and put it upside down in the sink before walking slowly toward her, already shaking his head.

"It's fine," he began.

"It's not," Clary's voice got slightly sharper. "Don't lie to me. We don't lie to each other." Jace stopped in front of her, and she saw the conflict on his face before he took in a deep breath.

"Alright," he said with a slight incline of his head. "It's nothing that I can't handle." He was picking his words carefully, and that pissed Clary off almost as much as him lying.

"Let me help," she insisted, straightening up, no longer leaning against the door frame and staring up at him. Even at her full height, though, her head only just reached past his shoulders. Jace narrowed his eyes.

"No," his reply was simple and his tone was flat, not inviting any argument. Usually Clary would respect that, but not tonight.

" _Yes_ ," she told him firmly.

"The last time you tried to help me out, look what happened," Jace's voice had more of an edge to it, and she knew that it was guilt that was creeping into his voice as well as his mind. Clary took his hands, linking their fingers together and squeezing them tightly, making herself known in his mind as she brushed over his thoughts and smoothed them over, not taking away the pain and the anxiety, but helping to numb it slightly. She saw the sharpness in Jace's eyes dim slightly.

"We're in this together," she told him—she _promised_ him. "I'm strong, you know that. You wouldn't be interested in me if I was a weak woman." Jace's lips pulled up slightly.

"I would never dream of calling you weak—" Jace was cut off, freezing almost comically with his lips parted. His whole body tensed, unable to move, and Clary tilted her head to the side as she let go of his hands, and released her hold on his mind just enough to let his mouth close and his hands fall back to his sides. His eyes were able to move, but everything else was stilled. Clary's hold on his mind was gentle, but firm, and he knew there was no way he was going to move unless she let him.

He had only seen her do this to people before, she had never done it to him, and it had been impressive to watch. She had done it when Max and Alec when they were squabbling, only momentarily, to stop them from fighting. More impressively, there had been a time when Jace and one of his teams had needed to get into a building unnoticed. She had frozen every single person in the lobby of the building from the other side of the street, where she was sitting in a coffee shop with Isabelle. But Clary didn't move, letting his mind wander, not affecting any of his thoughts.

Clary knelt down in front of him, ignoring how hard the tiles were on her knees, and tugged at the belt Jace was wearing, undoing the buckle, and then working at the button and zipper of his pants. She felt in take in a sharp breath as he realized what she was doing, but his thoughts didn't tell her to stop. He wanted this, and she could feel the heady arousal beginning to win out against the stress he had been feeling previously, which she was glad about. Even if she could just dilute that feeling for a few minutes, she was happy.

She loosened her hold on his mind, so that he could move his fingers and hands, and so that he could tip his head forward slightly so that he could watch what she was doing, as well as letting some of the grip go on his his throat and vocal chords, so that he could talk.

Or, hopefully, _not_ talk, and just make some noise.

Jace was hard as Clary pulled his cock out, not bothering to push his pants all the way down, only far enough so that she could pull him out and then envelop her in his mouth. Her cheeks hollowed out as she immediately took him right to the back of her throat, so that her nose was pressed against his pubic bone. Jace let out a strangled gasp and she felt his hand jerk at his side. She was distracted momentarily as she loosened the grip she had on his mind slightly more, so that he could move his hand a bit more.

"Shit, Clary," Jace sighed as he lifted his hand up, resting his thumb against her cheekbone, his fingers stretching toward her hair, massaging the side of her head, just above her ear. Clary moved her head quickly, her lips stretching over his cock and swallowing every time she took him to the back of her throat. " _Leibling_...Baby..." Jace was mumbling as she moved faster and faster. Jace wasn't sure if it was because of the sheer power that Clary was demonstrating, keeping most of his body completely restrained off-handedly while also concentrating on sucking him off, but he felt his orgasm rising quickly inside him.

There was a pounding in his ears as both hands went to her head, tangling in her hair and beginning to tug with what little leverage he was able to with his limited capabilities, and Clary got the hint. She laved her tongue underneath his cock, sucking harder at his head and tonguing his slit each time her head moved back, and moving her head from side to side slightly when the head was pressed against the back of her throat.

"Clary— _Clary_!" Jace cried out as his body jerked and his stomach muscles contracting as his orgasm ripped through him, and poured down her throat. Clary's concentration was obviously completely focused on swallowing everything that he was giving her, and her hold over his mind lapsed, his body free once again. Jace's body slumped slightly, loosening the grip on her hair as she pulled backwards, resting back on her haunches, and lifting her hand to wipe it across her lips. "Baby," Jace whispered as he leaned down and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. "Come on," he told her, reaching down and hooking his hands underneath her arms and pulling her to her feet. "Let's go to bed." He easily lifted her, her legs going around his waist.

"And then we'll talk about what's on your mind?" Clary asked, sounding a little breathless. Jace rolled his eyes.

"You're all that's on my mind," he told her as he swiftly made his way through his apartment and toward the bedroom. She gave him a pointed look, even though her mind was a little hazy with the feelings of lust that were running through her veins. Jace reached the bedroom and dropped her down. "Fine," he told her with another roll of his eyes. " _After_ we'll talk." Clary looked satisfied as she smiled, and Jace's lips came down on hers.

 **I watched the movie _It's Kind of a Funny Story_ for the first time, I've been meaning to watch it for years, but I just never had. I'm really glad I did, so I definitely recommend it. It's got Zach Galifianakis, Viola Davis and Emma Roberts and it's just a really really good. Sort of similar to _Perks of Being a Wallflower_ , although nowhere near as good since that's my favourite movie of all time. Haha. Also as I'm writing this, we're watching _Big Hero 6_ and I just adore this movie so much. They're all just amazing, and Tadashi is just...The most beautiful person in the world. Oh, and the other day I watched _Need For Speed_ again, which is just a mindlessly car racing movie, but I love Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots and so it's great. Haha.**

 **For TV shows, I've recently started _The Bold Type_ , and I'm completely in love, the three main girls are adorable, I don't know which one is my favourite so far. None? All? All, I think. And I absolutely love Alex. And Jacqueline is a fucking goddess. Honestly, the show just makes me so happy. Also _Crashing_ , which was fucking hilarious. Some of the lines in it were really cruel, actually, which kind of cut for a comedy show. I absolutely fucking LOVED Melody and Colin and Sam. Particularly Melody. Also, _Derry Girls_ , I've recommended it before, I'll do it again. Haha. My husband and I have watched it sooooooo many times, it's generally our go-to when stoned. Haha.**

 **Okay, so songs... Uh, some old ones I've been listening to— _Forever_ and _Sex Metal Barbie_ by In This Moment, um, also _Blood_ and _Adrenalize_. Slow _Fade_ by Ruth B, which is beautiful, _Cringe_ by Matt Maeson and the acoustic version is even better. _None Of My Business_ by Cher Lloyd and _Takeaway_ by The Chainsmokers and then _Hope For The Underrated Youth_ by Yungblud, which I bawled my eyes out over the first few times I listened to it.**

 **Okay; questions...Anyone into _Veronica Mars_? Anyone been into Veronica Mars since they were a child? Oh my god. I was so fucking disappointed by the reboot. Like, my entire heart dropped. I only got two episodes in, and I wasn't really enjoying it, I just felt like Veronica wasn't characterized well, she had actually regressed, and then I read the ending, and I just refused to go on. So...That's disappointment dating back to my primary school days.**

 **Umm...Favourite song right now? Mine is _hammer_ by nothing,nowhere.**

 **And how many tattoos do you have? I've just gotten my second one, and I think I'm getting a third in November, and then I've got plans for, like, four others.**

 **Anyway, drop a review, they make my day :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey, guys! Just a quick heads up that I'm not sure if there will be two updates for every story next month, like there has been for the past couple months, we'll just see how it goes. Working a lot at the moment and my husband and I are doing renovations on our home and just general busy life stuff, so don't have a lot of free time right now x**

The next day, after her classes finished, Will told Clary that they were being picked up. He didn't tell her what it was they were going to be doing or where it was they were going, and she didn't pry into his mind, but she knew that it had something to do with Jace and what had happened to her, the people that had attacked her. It had been two days since she had spoken with Jace, since the night that she had proved to him—for the umpteenth time—just how powerful she was when she was using just a _portion_ of her powers. He hadn't spoke with her about what they had been doing, but he had murmured before they had gone to sleep that night, that next time they had a lead, he would ask for her help.

The SUV that was waiting for them in the staff parking lot wasn't as conspicuous as the limo that Jace had picked her up in last time, but it was still one of the most expensive cars in the lot. Will and Clary walked over quickly, getting into the backseat and closing the door behind them.

"Afternoon, _florecita_ ," Raphael greeted her, but there was a slightly tighter tinge to his tone than their usually was, not quite as happy and carefree as usual. That worried Clary, and she dipped into the shallow waves of his mind, and picked up an argument between himself and Jace. It was about her, about picking her up. Raphael hadn't wanted to come and get her—not because he didn't want to see her, of course, but because he was worried about her and didn't want her to come with them to where they were going.

Clary quickly receded from his mind, not wanting to look any further, given the reason for his not so great mood was because he was feeling protective toward her. She appreciated the gesture on his behalf, but it wasn't necessary, whatever was happening here.

"Where are we going?" Will asked, his words clipped.

"Boss wants us to follow up with a couple of Hodge's known associates," Raphael replied as they pulled out of the parking lot and merged with the heavy traffic.

"We've already done that," Will replied, not bothering with a seat belt as he sat on the edge of the seat, one arm braced on Raphael's drivers seat and the other hand on the back of the seat that he and Clary were sitting on.

"We haven't done it with her," Raphael answered as he looked in the rear view mirror, back to where Clary was. The redhead met his eyes and then turned to look at Will, who was looking back at her with his eyebrows pulled together. It looked as though he was carding quickly through thoughts, not too sure how to school his expression, before he pursed his lips and jerked his head in a nod, leaning back in his seat.

Clary wasn't too sure how long they drove for, because they circled back near the University a couple of times and then down random side streets and doubling back. She checked her phone at one point and noted that it had been almost forty minutes since classes had let out, so they had been driving for at least that long, but then she slipped her phone into her bag and settled back in her seat, trying to force herself to be calm.

At least one of them in the car had to be, and it clearly wasn't either of the men.

The traffic was heavy and she was guessing that it was rush hour when they parked down a side street. They were downtown, in the business sector of the city, and Clary vaguely recognized their surroundings through the tinted glass windows. She was pretty sure they were only a few blocks away from where Jace's work building.

"This is a place that Jace uses to meet with some...Clients," Raphael said under his breath as he nodded to the building on their left. That didn't surprise Clary too much, she knew that he had a lot of properties under his name. It would also make sense that if he's following up with some unsavory clients, then he wouldn't want them to be coming to his main place of work, but it was close enough that he didn't have to leave his office for too long. "Jace is inside, just down the hall, through that door," Raphael gestured at the steel door just in front of the SUV. "He's meeting with a couple of people who have had connections in the past with Hodge and his group."

"So, what?" Will narrowed his eyes. "He wants Clary to just go filing through all of their minds as he talks to them to see if she can sniff anything out?" Raphael's eyebrows pulled together in a glare as he looked directly at Will.

"You think I like this anymore than you do?" He snapped.

"You're the glorified chauffeur here, bringing us right here, where there's potential danger going on the other side," Will snapped back.

"As if Jace would ever put her in danger _on purpose_?" Raphael sniped, looking defensive. "That's why we're _out here_!"

"Well, he's _already_ put her in danger. Look what happened last time—"

" _Hey_ ," Clary's voice was sharp as she interrupted Will, cutting him off with her words and with a sharp look. "That's _not_ okay to say," she told him, and Will had the decency to look ashamed of his words. She turned to look at Raphael and nodded. "So Jace is in there talking to people now?" She asked, although it wasn't really necessary because she was already reaching out with her mind. Despite how big the building was, it was relatively empty, and that was undoubtedly on purpose. She felt Jace's mind first, and then Alec's, because those were the ones that were most familiar to her. Then she also felt Max's, and finally it was the person that they were speaking with. She could also feel that there were more people in the building, but right now, they weren't the focus, and she zeroed in on the person that held Jace's focus at the moment.

Clary got an idea of the situation, a picture of what the space looked like in her head, as she got glimpses of it through the minds of the people that she was looking into. It looked like any other office space, except the room was almost completely empty, and all of the windows were made with bullet proof glass. There were two guards at the door, as well as Alec and Max standing beside Jace, all with weapons.

Clary then expanded her thoughts, building outward from Jace, and she lost track of how many people he had brought in through an entrance on the other side of the building. She was guessing it wasn't the front door, but she wasn't really keeping her mind trained on the guards who were the ones that were actually bringing the people in. She was focusing on each of the men—and women, given there were two. Alec was the one asking the questions, while Jace was just standing back, watching silently. From the minds of the ones being interrogated, Clary could tell that they all knew who Jace was, and they grew even more scared of him when he remained wordless. One of them even kept having a recurring fear of Jace clicking his fingers and sending the metal pipes that were running along the walls flying, and burying them into his body.

Clary winced at the explicitness of the fear and she tied to push it aside.

She knew that there was blood on Jace's hands, one didn't become as powerful as he was without doing some things that Clary would never want to hear of.

Or think of, and visualize.

She could sense the restlessness from Will and Raphael in the care, especially since they weren't able to listen in to the minds of what was going on inside, they were just sitting there in silence. She could also feel that Jace was getting tired, and she noted that it was dark outside, so they must have been there for a while. Clary was about to ask Raphael if he had any idea of how long they were going to do this, but then she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.

A womanly shape, made entirely of diamond.

Clary gasped, panic welling in her stomach at the image, and Will was at attention suddenly, leaning in and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Clary?" Raphael asked quietly. Clary just shook her head, quickly moving from the mind of the man who was in the chair in front of Jace and his men and sliding into Jace's mind. She had been careful not to intrude into his thoughts since she had gotten there, other than quietly murmuring that she was outside when they had first arrived. But now, she spoke loudly, her voice clear in his mind.

 _He knows something. He knows something about the diamond girl._ Jace didn't reply mentally, but she knew that he had heard and understood what she had said, because he finally spoke, after staying silent for the past few hours.

"We're going to speak with him somewhere a bit more private," Jace said, and the man in the seat jerked, fear spiking through him. Clary instantly caught something else in his mind that made her jolt. That panic that had been swirling around in her stomach from the moment she had seen the person made of diamond starting rising up in her throat. She felt her lungs beginning to work double time as she sucked in more air through her nose and mouth.

"Clary?" Will sounded even more worried now, tightening the grip that he had on her shoulder. His fingers were pressing into her upper arm and it hurt slightly, but that was good, because that dragged her back.

 _And he knows that you have a girlfriend,_ Clary projected to Jace, and she felt his whole body tighten. When Jace had spoken, several different images had flooded through his mind, and one of those thoughts had been the man speaking to someone else, someone sitting in the shadows of a car, and telling that shadow that word on the street was that Jace had a girlfriend. He didn't know who, he didn't know if she was a mutant or a human, but she knew that she existed.

A moment later, Raphael's phone rang, and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket. His eyes moved back to Clary and Will as he spoke, and Clary instantly knew that it was Jace.

"Yeah?" Raphael answered the phone. His eyes narrowed and a thundercloud rested over her face. "Got it," he stated and then ended the call. "We're getting out of here," he said as he turned back around.

"What's going on?" Will questioned, still braced on the edge of his seat, his eyes flicking between Clary and Raphael.

"The guy they've got in there—he knows about Clary," Raphael's voice was rough as he turned on the engine of the SUV.

" _What_?!" Will growled, his eyes widening.

"H-he knows that I exist, not w-who I am," Clary said shakily. Will pursed his lips together and jerked his head in a nod, before moving back in the seat next to Clary. Raphael speed out of the alleyway, the only thing on his mind was getting the redhead somewhere safe.

 **Songs that I recommend are _Die A Little_ by Yungblud, _Teeth_ by 5SOS, _Love Myself_ by Olivia O'Brien and _Middle Finger_ by Bohnes, all of which have just been on repeat for the past week or so. Also, my husband is completely obsessed with _Motivation_ by Normani and _Slide Away_ by Miley Cyrus, so I've been hearing those a lot recently as well. Lol.**

 **I've been fighting this cold/flu/virus things for moooonths now, and I took a day off work coz it hit hard and I was feeling sorry for myself and I just spent it watching fluffy movies that make me happy. Haha. _Footloose_ , the original one, of course, even though I don't mind the new one. _A Cinderella Story, Ever After, Raise Your Voice, Centre Stage: Turn It Up, What A Girl Wants, The Prince & Me, 13 Going On 30 _and _High School Musical_ so those are my recommendations!**

 **Okay, so questions—how many of you guys are planning on getting Disney+? Haha. It's just been announced that it _will_ be getting released in New Zealand, which we were worried it wouldn't be because so many streaming services aren't. But it's gonna be here in November and me and my partner are _psyched_! Haha.**

 **Is everyone else heartbroken about the Sony/Marvel breakdown? Honestly, my heart goes out to Tom Holland the most, because he has done such an incredible job. There's always going to be a special place in my heart for the OG Spiderman, but there's just something about Tom's version, he was fucking amazing and had so much heart, and I'm just _so upset_ that there isn't going to be more of him in this verse. He seemed so heart broken at D23. Poor baby :(**

 **Last one! Anyone watch performances at the VMAs? I honestly kind of think the VMAs/Oscars/The Golden Globes yadda yadda yadda are pretty bullshit, pretty biased, so I don't pay too much attention to the nominations and the winners, but I live for the outfits and the, like, two or three performances from artists I like. Lizzo and Missy Elliott were fucking _amazing_ , and I screamed when Alyson Stoner came out on stage. Miley Cyrus' performance was totally heart breaking, so fucking good. And Halsey and Jonathan Van Ness were my stand out outfits! Oh also—Joe and Nick Jonas and Sophie Turner's reactions to Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes not kissing in their set was fucking hilarious. Let's face it, I think anything involving Sophie is hilarious—did you guys see her pasta related Instagram story? Ahahahaha. She's amazing.**

 **Drop a review, let me know what you think, love you lots x**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey, guys! Before getting into it, I want to recommend some of my favourite songs as of late... _Undrunk_ by Fletcher. _Dance Monkey_ by Tones and I. And then of course _Kill My Mind_ by the beautiful Louis Tomlinson and _Lights Up_ by the just as beautiful Harry Styles, although the _Lights Up_ music video was an experience and a half, especially while high. _Pretending_ and _Honest_ by Mali Koa are just beautiful. Then _Promise Me_ by Badflowers, which...Made my heart hurt when I heard the song, and then when I watched the video, I cried for the next hour. Yeah. I just wanted to share some happy things, since my note down the end isn't as happy, I guess. Anyway. On with the story x**

Clary didn't want to know what Jace was doing with the guy that he was holding down town.

They got back to Jace's apartment with no detours and Raphael probably breaking several speed limits. Both men escorted her into the elevator, giving a nasty look at another girl who approached the elevator as well, and she quickly seemed to change her mind, holding back and waiting for the next elevator to come. Usually Clary would scold them for being rude, but she just wasn't in her normal head space right now. She felt shaken, and she knew that it was because everything was coming back, she felt as though she was right back in the aftermath of that woman driving a piece of her diamond into her stomach.

"Clary?" Isabelle was standing just outside the elevator, and the redhead realized that they had reached the top floor and the doors were open. "You ready?" Clary swallowed hard and stepped forward, out of the elevator. Will came with her, while Raphael stayed where he was.

"I'll be back once Jace is finished," he said quietly, leaning forward to the press the button to go back to the underground parking lot. Will nodded, and he followed Isabelle and Clary into the penthouse. Clary didn't like having them in her space, feeling like she was being babied, but she knew _why_ they were there, they were just worried about her.

Clary sat on the couch in the lounge until Jace came back.

She felt his presence as soon as Raphael, Alec, Max and he rounded the block in the car, and she felt him getting closer and closer as the car made it's way through traffic and then into the parking lot. She could feel that he was angry, but it was a controlled rage, and she knew that she had to feed off that. She had to share his strength and his resolve.

She had to push aside her fear and her worry, because they needed to get to the bottom of their problem so that they could move out without it following them around.

When Jace walked in, Clary stood up, hands clenched into fists at her side and chin jutted forward.

"I want to help. What can I do?" She asked, her voice steady.

* * *

Clary could feel that there were three men in the room, other than the primary target. They all had weapons, but none of them were paying much attention to their surroundings either. They were lazy and they had let their minds wander, and she easily entered their consciousness. One of them was next to a computer monitor which flicked through the security feed, and she was the one that focused mainly on, masking the entrance of Will, Alec and Raphael, and then Jace, who was walking behind his men, at a much slower pace, a murderous look on his face. The other two men were talking among themselves, and their minds were easy to cloud until Will and Alec were on them.

She quickly withdrew from their minds when the shots were fired.

Jace had warned her about that before they had gone in, saying that the only person that they were going to keep alive was going to be Hodge, and that was why he had been worried about using her power. He didn't want her in anyones head when they died.

She never wanted to experience that.

There were a few more minds that Clary reached out to in the building, and they were similar to the first few, they just weren't paying any attention and they were easy to manipulate. She pushed the thoughts of where they were into the minds of Jace and his men as they moved through the building, and then she easily located Hodge, where he was with one other man.

"They in?" Isabelle asked quietly from where she was sitting in the drivers seat of the SUV that was parked just down the block from the building.

"Yup, making their way toward Hodge," Clary said quietly. They didn't need her anymore, there was only one guard left and they could easily take care of them without any further help from her. But she remained in the back of Jace's mind, watching through his eyes. His mind was angry, angrier than usual. She didn't like it when he was like this, she wanted to make it go away, to soothe over the pain, but she knew that she had no right to take that away from him, so she just remained small and unheard.

Alec shot the last guard in the head, no flair required in taking him out. Hodge was sitting at a long desk in the corner of the room and he jumped when the doors flung open and almost fell off his chair when the bullet went off. Clary didn't need to be in his head to know how frightened he was when he the men moved aside and Jace walked past them, his eyes narrow as he looked down at the man.

"M-Mr Herondale," he stammered out. Jace didn't say anything, just kept on advancing across the room. Hodge looked as though he wanted to melt into the floor below him and just before Jace reached him, he flicked his fingers, and the metal legs of the desk were torn out, a loud crash as the table of the desk and it's contents scattered across the floor. The metal legs creaked as they wrapped themselves around Hodge's arms, pinning him to the chair, another leg wrapping itself tightly around Hodge's neck, more going around his legs. They were squeezing so tightly that Hodge's breathing started coming out in rasps, and Clary considered pulling out of his mind.

Just because she knew that Jace killed people, sometimes even tortured people, but that didn't mean she wanted to see it.

Clary was about to withdraw when she felt Jace relent just slightly, his power loosening in his mind, and the metal table leg that was wound around in his neck gave just a little.

"You fucked me over," Jace began, getting straight to the point. There really wasn't any need for beating around the bush, because Hodge was clearly already aware of just how powerful Jace was, and he was absolutely petrified. "Tell me everything." For a moment, it looked as though maybe Hodge wasn't going to say anything. Clary could see the indecision on his face, even though he was frightened of Jace, he was also just as scared of the person that he had made a deal with.

Clary didn't have to nudge very hard in his mind to give him the idea that Jace didn't need him alive, that he had someone else who could give him the information and therefore he was expendable, before he started speaking.

It came out in stutters and stammers, but it gave them a lot of information.

Hodge had agreed to help Sebastian Verlac get close to Jace in exchange for protection. Protection was an invaluable thing to have, especially for mutants, and Jace would never make that offer to Hodge, so Hodge had taken it up from someone else. He hadn't known what Sebastian was going to do though, because although he wanted protection, he wasn't suicidal, and he wouldn't have stepped up against Jace in such a big way if he had known that was what was happening.

"This is my city," Hodge managed to say, needing to take in shallow breaths given how tight the metal bar was still wrapped around his neck. "This is where I've lived all my life. And now I can't come back because of what happened to your team," he swallowed hard, and he looked up at Jace from beneath flickering eyelids. "There was rumors that one of them was your girl as well." Jace didn't answer that—he didn't even flinch—and neither did the men at his side. Hodge swallowed again and dropped his eyes.

"Do you have a phone number for him?" Jace asked, his voice low and gravelly, and Hodge dipped his head in a nod. "What else did he ask you for?"

Hodge continued. Sebastian had asked for him and his men to keep their eye on Jace and his men, and especially 'his girl'. Hodge had no idea who she was, given it wasn't as though Clary was seen in public very often with any of them, and she managed to keep herself concealed when they did venture out. Hodge had also been finding it difficult to keep track of Jace and his men, given how they utilized Alec and Max's teleporting abilities and Clary's cloaking ability and also the fact that Jace had been keeping them pretty under the radar. So Hodge hadn't actually been in contact with Sebastian on that number, and he was probably due to make a phone call any day now.

"Right," Jace nodded, and rubbed a hand over his mouth as he thought for a moment. "You're going to use that number to call Sebastian, and you're going to set up a meeting." Clary made sure to follow every single one of the the thoughts that flew through Hodge's mind. For about half a second, he considered calling Sebastian and telling him everything that had happened, and hoping that Sebastian would come to his aid. But he dismissed that quickly out of sheer fear of Jace.

"W-what do I tell him when he asks why I want t-to meet?" Hodge asked shakily.

"You tell him that you want to renegotiate the terms of your arrangement with him," Jace responded. "You tell him what you told me—that you fear for your life if you return to the city and especially if you had no idea of what Sebastian was going to do to myself and my team, you feel as though you need to be compensated greater." Hodge didn't like the idea of that—of challenging Sebastian, Clary didn't need the ability to read minds to know that, and Jace knew that as well. "Be convincing, because if you don't successfully set up this meet..." Jace trailed off and his finger flickered at his side, and the band of metal around Hodge's neck suddenly tightened. Hodge spluttered, making futile attempts to pull his hands free and grab for the metal, but Jace's face was completely impassive as he just tightened those restrains even more.

Hodge's breaths came out in wheezes and his face was bright red, his eyes wide and petrified. Clary knew that Jace wasn't going to kill him, he unfortunately needed Hodge, but Clary didn't need to see anything further, and so she completely withdrew from his mind and everyone elses who were in that room.

"You alright?" Isabelle asked softly, already turned around in the drivers seat, her eyes on the red head. Clary swallowed hard and jerked her head in a nod. "They'll be back soon," she assured Clary, even though she didn't know what was going on inside, like Clary did. Clary just nodded again, leaning back in the chair and tipping her head backwards and closing her eyes.

Isabelle had been right, Jace and his guards began leaving the building shortly, she could feel them getting closer, and there was a slight tug of reassurance in the ring that she wore around her thumb, and she knew that that was Jace's way of telling her that they were okay.

Even as Jace got back into the SUV, and Will, Raphael and Alec got into the SUV that was parked behind them, Clary kept her eyes closed. Even though she was no longer in Hodge's mind—or anyone elses—but she still had images flashing behind her eyelids. Of the men that Jace's people had killed, and also of Hodge's face, or the petrified expression as the metal had wrapped tighter and tighter around his neck.

She tried to quiet her mind as Jace reached out and touched his fingertips to the back of her hand.

 **Alright, so, obviously I didn't update last month. My bad. I'm in a pretty shitty spot, to be honest, mentally and physically and I've just got a lot going on right now. I'm still dealing with the abrupt loss of a family member and the fall out of that on my family and recently my husband has had a colleague take his life, which has brought up a lot for him. We're going to be okay, we're dealing with things, but I just need to take a breath right now. When I am in front of my computer and I'm actually focused enough to write, I'm not sticking to the schedules that I had before and I'm just writing what I really feel like which unfortunately hasn't been these stories. So I'm just...Gonna take a step back for a bit.**

 **You guys are all beautiful, and I'll be back soon, I just need a bit of a breather to re-centre myself.**

 **Since updating last, it has been World Coming Out Day and World Mental Health Day and I just wanted to say to anyone dealing with mental health issues and anyone in the LGBTQ+ community, whether you are out and loud or still processing things internally, you are all beautiful and deserve love and kindness. Just because I'm going to be away for a little bit, doesn't mean I'm unreachable, feel free to message me on my socials or on here if anyone ever wants to just chat, even if it's just about movies or songs, we all need to look after ourselves first, and then one another.**

 **Much love xx**

 **Tumblr: SereneCalamity**  
 **Twitter: CalamitySerene**


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